I love this video so much.
I love this guy so much. If I owned a company—any company—and was hiring, this is the person I would hire.
So much of life comes down to grit. Persistence. Commitment. Tenaciousness. Practice. Yet so few seem willing to put in the time.
I write novels. Though some may argue this requires a certain degree of talent, I would argue that the most important attribute I possess is the willingness to commit my ass to a chair for a long period of time.
Truthfully, I believe it’s been my willingness to sit in a relentless, non-precious, non-idealized way for an incredibly long time that has led me to my writing career.
I started writing in late November of 1988 when I was 17 years old, and it is not an exaggeration to say that I have written every single day of my life since then.
I have not missed a day.
Wedding day. Birth of my children. Death of my mother. Pneumonias. Honeymoon. Vacation. Concussions. Homelessness.
I have not missed a day.
When I was younger, I wrote in journals. I wrote letters. Short stories, Newsletters. Poems. Zines. Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Comics. My classmates’ term papers (my first paid writing gig).
In 1990 I began blogging on an early version of the Internet known as a Bulletin Board System.
In 2004, I took a graduate-level class on blogging and began blogging regularly, first at a blog entitled Perpetual Perpetuity, and then Conform Me Not, and now here. Since 2004, I have not missed a day.
I started writing at 17. I published my first novel at 39.
Talent?
It took me 22 years of constant, consistent, relentless daily practice before any publisher took an interest in my work. Maybe I’m a talented writer, or maybe I simply forged myself through hard work into someone who looks like one.
