How the Law of Attraction Made Me a #1 Bestselling Author

Even before I had ever heard of the term, “the Universal Law of Attraction,” it was helping me move toward my dream of becoming a bestselling author.

I’ll never forget a conversation that I once had with Arnette Lamb, a New York Times bestselling Romance novelist.  I was whining about my rejection letters from Romance editors at legacy publishing houses. I told Arnette that editors kept writing complimentary things like, “You write well,” and then tacked on vague criticisms, like, “Something just isn’t right about this book.  We’re going to pass.”

Arnette looked me in the eyes and asked, “Adrienne, who are you spending your time with?”

Although I’d never heard of the Law of Attraction (LOA,) I had heard the aphorism, “Birds of a feather flock together” (which I now recognize as a pithy way of describing LOA.)  I admitted, “Unpublished authors.”

Arnette nodded. “That’s your problem. Start spending time with published authors.”

I didn’t necessarily believe that adding published friends to my circle was the missing ingredient to my success. But I did remember an interesting anecdote that I had heard in a workshop.

In that workshop, Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, described how he rose to become a millionaire in the publishing industry. He then admitted that no matter what he did in his business endeavors, he couldn’t achieve his dream of breaking the billionaire barrier.

Mark went on to describe a conversation with a new business acquaintance, a man who associated with billion-dollar achievers. That acquaintance gave Mark the kind of advice that Arnette had given to me: If you want to become a billionaire, starting spending time with billionaires.

Mark did . . . and the rest, as they say, is history.

How did LOA shape my writing success?  Here’s an example:

I moved from Houston, Texas (a hotbed of bestselling Romance authors) to live in Austin. I didn’t know any published Romance authors in my new home town. The Internet was virtually unknown, and email was a novelty – few people had addresses.

But I did have one thing in my favor: I was determined to become published. So I practiced my creative visualization exercises two or more times each day. I made treasure maps. I wrote my novel. I stayed focused on my dream.

Within six weeks of chatting with Arnette – and totally out of the blue – I got a telephone call from a published Romance novelist who lives in Austin. I had met Patricia Wynn once, nearly a year earlier, when our paths crossed at a Romance Writers of America (RWA) meeting. Pat explained that she was starting a new critique group, and she was looking for writers. Was I interested?

Within 18 months of joining Pat’s group, I abandoned the over-worked project that every Romance editor in New York had rejected, and I completed a new historical Romance manuscript. That manuscript, Texas Outlaw, was published by Bantam Books. 

Texas Outlaw went on to become a finalist for two Rita Awards sponsored by the published authors of RWA – a history-making event.  In it’s ebook format, Texas Outlaw reached #1 on two Kindle Top 100 Lists: Historical Romance and Western Historical Romance.  (Note to Readers:  Texas Outlaw, Texas Lover, and Texas Wildcat are adult Romance novels.)

Along with the rest of my award-winning Wild Texas Nights trilogy, Texas Outlaw (Book 1) remained on three Kindle Top 100 Lists (Western Genre was the third) for nearly seven months.

Do you have a lifelong dream?  A relationship that has eluded you? A health improvement that needs to be made? Business success or the end of money debt? Include LOA in your daily routine!

Achieving your goals gets easier — and you can see your progress every day — when you consciously and deliberately practice with LOA.  In the immortal words of Louise Hay, founder of Hay House Publishing, “No one thinks in your mind except you.”