If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: enjoy the daily grind.
Writing books is hard, seeing them rejected is harder, and to keep on writing every day even on the days when you don’t feel like it is the hardest. All that hardship leaves you hoping that there’s going to be some big pay off at the end; that all your effort will one day be rewarded.
In reality, the payoffs are few and far between.
Imagine you just landed a six-figure book deal. You’re off the phone with your agent. It’s happening. You do the thing you always dreamed of and tell your boss to go fuck himself. From now on, you’re going to write full time. You dance your way back home and take your spouse for an expensive dinner at a posh restaurant. How long, do you think, this elation is going last?
After it fades, your life goes back to normal. Your book won’t hit the shelves for another six to ten months. There’s the editing and marketing to take care of, plus, you now have to write more books. You have more work than you had before.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is just bullshit made up by your fairy godmother to keep you walking. Enjoying the daily grind will get you further than a six-figure book deal.
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