Writing success - What does it mean?

So this was a longer break than I intended, but here I am with a new post at long last.

This morning I received a phone call from a friend. She'd been so kind as to put us up in Montreal for the weekend although she herself was away, and as a 'thank you' gift I left her this:

Yes, a copy of my novel, published in 2012 after many years of hoping and working, and once again a recommended read from the Canadian Children's Book Council. Which doesn't mean that adults, both women and men, haven't read and enjoyed it.

Blondine began her phone call by saying, "Can you guess why I haven't phoned or emailed?"

I chuckled. "You've been reading my book."

This was an informed guess, based on feedback from many readers who said they couldn't put it down and read until the early hours of the morning.

Anyhow, she loved the book and we spoke a little about that, and how much of it was auto-biographical (certainly informed by my life but hardly anything directly), and the companion volume I'm busy writing. But afterwards, I started to think about success as a writer. The trouble is, the goal posts keep moving i.e. at first, you just want to be published, then you want to do it again only better, and so on. For me, however, the fact that CAPE TOWN is out there, on the bookstore and library shelves (and if not, you can order a copy) and available as an ebook really signifies success to me. Because this is a story I feel that needed to be told and I'm so happy that I did!