Persistence and vision.
Staying in the game until you spot your opportunity.
Hello, friends!
The holiday season is upon us full-force, and it seems as if you celebrate pretty much anything, there’s something to celebrate last month, this month, or next… or in the liminal space in between. We’re a pretty secular household overall, but it’s nice in these dark times to have an excuse to put glitter and lights and candles on everything… which I have been singularly failing to do.
I did buy some Brussels sprouts and a nice roast though, so we’ll be gorging ourselves on that and Yorkshire puddings.
I just handed in the manuscript of a novella for an Audible Original—about a week late but since everybody in publishing leaves on Dec 15 and doesn’t come back until Jan 6, I suspect nobody will notice. There will be revisions, but when it’s done it will be Police Sub-Inspector Ferron #2, tentatively titled “A Blessing of Unicorns.”
Now I have to dive back into writing The Origin of Storms, the draft of which is due in April. Other looming projects include the CEM of Machine, which should be along any minute.
I’m probably taking a few days off first. I have a lot of reading to catch up on. And rest is an important part of staying fit to create. It turns out all those platitudes about it being a marathon and not a sprint are accurate.
So much of succeeding in any creative field is just keeping at it until you manage to accomplish something. Then keeping at it until the next break happens, and the next, and the one after that.
This has been on my mind a lot lately, honestly. I’m trying to level my career (I’m always trying to level my career) and it seems sometimes as if I have been doing this for a very long time. It’s hard to remember how far I’ve come, and how much skill (and business savvy) I’ve picked up along the way.
It’s also important, of course, to keep in mind what I don’t know. As my own break into the field gets further in the rearview mirror, my advice on how to accomplish that same trick becomes less and less relevant for emerging writers today.
But one thing that I’m confident still applies is the need to just keep working, to keep trying new things. To trust your vision and your voice, and develop both of them. And to keep producing art and launching it in whatever way you choose.
And try not to worry too much about stuff, or how fast other people are succeeding, or how their careers are going.
Because that way lies madness.
You’re much better off keeping your eyes on your own paper, and taking the occasional nap.
Best,
Bear