I love this video so much.
I love this guy so much.
If I owned a company—any company—and was hiring, I would hire this person.
It’s so worth the watch.
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. Some may argue this requires a certain degree of talent, but I’d argue 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 no 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:
Small, localized versions of the internet with a couple of dozen people in the system.
In my mind:
Readers!
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 more likely, I simply forged myself through hard work and tenacity into someone who looks like one.
