After All!

...my sister Constance Baltuck is a famous Alaska artist. After all, she has had solo shows in the Alaska State Museum, Juneau City Museum, and Alaska Pacific University, to name a few. The Alaska State Museum has purchased her artwork for their permanent collection, which is quite a feather in her cap.

Constance felt these opportunities had dropped into her lap out of the blue. But how many paintbrushes did she wear out preparing for this ‘sudden’ success? For thirty years she has steadily produced beautiful art, selling out show after show. The key phrase here is “After all…” Yes, after all the hard work and promotion and never never never giving up, she has ‘suddenly’ hit the big time.

On the other side of the brain, my sister Miriam was a scientist. She worked for NASA, and at the White House for the Clinton Administration, and as the first female director of one of NASA’s three Deep Space Tracking Stations on the planet. Her contributions to science were recognized when they named a planet after her. Okay, so it’s only a minor planet--well, actually it’s a decent-sized asteroid. Even so, it’s official…and if you don’t believe me, just Google ‘Planet Baltuck.’ So another sister busted her butt for thirty years working very long hours in high heels to succeed in a tough field dominated by men. That’s what you have to do if you want a planet named after you.

And if you want a book that bears your name on its spine and houses a novel that would make your mother proud, you must never never never give up on your writing. It’s a long hard journey that requires faith, vision, a little bit of audacity and a lot of bum glue. But one day you will find that ‘suddenly’ you are a published author. In the meantime, don’t be too hard on yourself, and always remember that success is relative. My mother used to declare proudly, “Seven children, and not one of them in jail!”