Ever had something that you just absolutely needed to win, and nothing else mattered? A track meet, a football game, a Pinewood Derby (for those of you old enough to remember those!), or a writing contest? Whatever it was, it captured your focus and fueled your passion. You practiced and practiced and practiced some more, all to win!
I didn’t ever really experience that, at least not on a deeply personal level. Sure, I could get sucked into the “team spirit” back when I played sports in school and wanted to win on a basic competitive level, but tee-ball and soccer and basketball were more for fun rather than anything else for me. It wasn’t until I got really serious about writing that I started to feel that spark. And it wasn’t a competitive spark, if that made any sense. By its very nature, there’s competition in any kind of contest, but for me the competition is with myself. Am I skilled enough to tell the story I set out to tell, the way it’s meant to be told, in a way that resonates with the greatest number of people? That’s the question that fuels my passion for the craft, and what keeps me going, even through seasons of life where very little gets written.
I won’t say I’m great at it, but I’m at least better at it than I was with basketball back in lower school. We’ll forget that time ever existed!
What about you? What are you most passionate about? What keeps you coming back to it again and again and again, all with a desire to win?
And if watching people at the height of their abilities compete against one another is your thing, we’ve got a universe we know you’ll love!
Car Warriors: the Autoduel Chronicles
Nothing says competition better than a race, and there’s no race greater than the Dead Man’s Run! Set in the Car Wars universe by Steve Jackson Games, the Dead Man’s Run is a cross-country race to the finish for heroes of what will be multiple books from multiple authors. The first two are already out the gate and racing down the broken, bandit-infested highways of the near future, with the third one by Christopher Woods on the way soon! Start with the first, or start with the second. Either one is the beginning of its own self-contained trilogy, so you can’t go wrong! No matter where you start, you’ll read them all.
