Saturday night, I attended the birthday party of a good friend and a supporter of my work. Yes, I had a very good time but there came a humbling moment late in the evening. It happened unexpectedly, as most of these moments do, and left me with (as my older daughter would say) “some good and bad feels.”

What happened?

This wonderful birthday woman, a true lady in all respects, introduced me to some of her guests as a published author. As the good people they are, their immediate responses were complimentary and bespoke the automatic reverence many of us hold for the authorship of any completed and published book.

At first, I thought these compliments were the ‘good feels’ I wanted and deserved – pride of recognition, pride of accomplishment, pride of the acknowledgement of the hard work, focus, and dedication of completing not only 1 but 2 books with a 3rd on the editor’s desk, and more, in other genres, to follow. But then, right in the middle of this ‘feel-good moment,’ I inexplicably found my tongue tied and stumbled along for a few minutes until, fortunately, we were called to sing ‘Happy Birthday’.

I spent most of yesterday revisiting this moment.

Why did I run to hide behind the curtain when the spotlight shined on me?

The epiphany struck when I recalled a passage I myself had written in Book One – The Last Born. Ever intent on teaching Chork the virtues of knighthood, Dame Pogi says to the elf,

“Humility teaches us that pride is both a vice and a virtue, like two sides of the same coin. A vice, when you strut like a peacock for no good reason. A virtue, when temperance and truthfulness are applied.”

Integrity, first.

The real ‘good feels’ came the moment when temperance and truthfulness had stepped forward and had stayed my tongue.

The ‘bad feels’ moment came the next day when I realized I should have voiced to those good people what I was thinking – “I deserve little credit for I can do so much better. I owe it to you as readers, to my friend who already sings my praises, and to me.”

Thank you, good friend. I came to celebrate your birthday and received two wonderful presents – a proper dose of humility and a large helping of inspiration.