Something About Courage and Tons of Giveaways

Last weekend, while in downtown Corpus Christi, we came across this little beauty.

It’s a real ship, yo. Actually, it’s an exact replica of Christopher Columbus’s ship, the Nina. (The Pinta and the Santa Maria are in dry dock at a nearby museum.) Check out how freakishly small this baby is. Or was.

The sad thing is I don’t remember how many people actually crewed this ship, but seriously, I don’t know where the people actually fit. So I stood there, staring at it, and wondering how the heck they sailed halfway across the world in it, and thinking about courage. These guys. They had no radios. No GPS or electronic anything to tell them they were sailing in the right direction. They didn’t even have engines. Their entire journey was dependent on wind.

And they sailed from Spain to America in this TINY, TINY ship.

I’m sorry, but those guys—serious, HUGE courage. HUGE.

I talk about doing hard things sometimes. About how tough the publishing industry has become, and how taking chances (in all aspects of life) is tricky and hard and freakishly scary. But guys, this tiny ship really gave me some perspective. I will never have to pack up my whole life and family and travel into the scariest unknown on a rickety little ship with no radio to call for help if we happen upon a kraken or something.

Kinda made the scary things in my life feel a little less scary.

What about you? What scary thing have you put in perspective recently? And how did you find courage?

Oh, and BTW, next week, WAY fun promotions happening:

Starting Monday, DESCENDANT will be on a very special promotion. From June 2-6, you can download it on Amazon for FREE. That’s right, free. (I am not an author who believes in giving away my art for free, so this is something that is unlikely to happen again soon—if ever.)

Also, I’m giving away three print copies of BIRTHRIGHT on Goodreads, and three digital copies here on the blog (check back here Monday for the Rafflecopter form). No purchase necessary, but I’d love a little help spreading the word, if you will.

At the same time, I’m running a Review Blast for BIRTHRIGHT, because that poor baby book needs a little love. So if you’ve read it (or if you read fast) be sure to leave a review, and then go here to enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

So yeah. Next week, be prepared. I will be all over the internet promoting. I hope you’ll forgive me. I promise, by the 7 or 8^th, I’ll be done for a bit.