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Starting over. And over.

Quoteblock is gray with light blue elements. Quote reads "An overnight success is ten years in the making." Attributed to Tom Clancy.

Here’s to starting over.

At fifteen I thought I should try writing a novel. I scribbled notes on notepads between classes and after classes and during classes. I had my snatches of conversations with mermaids snatched away during Spanish with accusations of cheating – until my teacher realized I would a.) have a much better grade if I were actually cheating and b.) that mermaid in Spanish probably doesn’t look the same as it does in English.


My classmates would pass by and ask me what I was doing. When I told them I was writing a novel they were in awe. Not exactly of my writing prowess, just that I was so committed that I was attempting a work longer than our 500 word essays or occasional three page papers. They all had something they had committed to, whether it was Kathleen rebuilding an old VW bug engine, or Natalie who set out to become the drum major, or Devin who explored early AI programming.


But for me the act of writing itself was like an itch in my fingers and behind my eyes, something so subtle I didn’t realize I needed to do it every day until long after I had settled into the bliss of steady creation.


That summer I sat down at the family computer every morning and wrote until lunch, when I would have to wrangle my brother and prepare something for our parents. We opened the windows in the living room so that the morning breeze brought the heady scent of roses and the happy cries of my brother and his friends outside, away from me, and the steady clacking of the mechanical keyboard.

That first novel wasn’t.

It had no ending. It was eaten at approximately 150 pages, by a wild herd of viruses, and I learned the value of backing up your work – because I hadn’t – and years later, I learned to start over.

Just after college, and my first successful Nanowrimo win, I thought I would go back to writing the first book. It wasn’t a novel. For 22 interminable drafts, it was a book-shaped object.

Draft 23 was a novel.

I want to share my writing journey and my best comeuppance lessons. Those seem to be the only kinds I learn well, but also because I have found that learning from the mistakes of others is a great way to feel less bad when you realize you’ve made those same mistakes. Here’s to the new year, and the next draft.

In the meanwhile, this post by Ramit Sethi is 4 years old. It’s a post that got me through the hard time of thinking, “Well, maybe I just won’t be a writer then!” and made me remember that roughly ten years ago I couldn’t even write a work longer than 7,000 words without giving up.

The distance from 2020 me to 2010 me is six successfully created book-shaped objects, and one novel. It takes time.