What We Will Say

Time is an interesting thing.

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It passes.

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And we will be five or ten years older down the line if we like it or not.

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What does this have to do with writing?

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Everything.

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Where will we be in 10 years? Because, I promise you this. The time will pass. I used to say to my husband back when he was in graduate school (he chose a long road - 4 years undergrad, 4 years grad and 4 years specialty training) Anyway, I used to say, "Look, you're going to be 35 some day anyway. You might as well be 35 doing what you want to do instead of 35 saying I wish I hadn't given up."

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No, that is a miserable place to be.

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Right now, sitting here in my office, I am thinking back on the last 8 years of writing and saying the same thing to myself.

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What if I had given up at three years in when that agent said my writing was 'familiar' (code for overused, played, not exciting)

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What if I had given up at five years in when that editor said there's just no market for historical middle grade

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What if I had given up at seven years in when that beta reader said (and I swear this is what she said) why would anyone read this tripe when they could be reading Twilight?

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Those times (and many others) were painful and discouraging. I doubted myself and my writing.

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But I didn't give up.

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And it doesn't really matter how long our journey is. It doesn't matter if you get that contract in two years or if it takes you twelve.

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What matters is that when we get to that future place and look back on our lives, we say

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I didn't give up, even when I was discouraged.

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We say,

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I learned something. I made a few friends. I kept writing.

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We say,

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I did it.

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What say you?

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