A couple of weeks ago, I sent a message about disappointment in which I shared my recent
experience with a writing contest. That email seemed to hit home for many of you who responded with your own stories of disappointments from which you ultimately learned and grew.
One of those responses
came from WriteByNight's newest coach and consultant Bill Hammond. Bill generously shared his story with me, and now I want to share it with you:
"As a boy I so wanted to be a writer. I read voraciously and I dreamed of writing a novel to critical acclaim. No goal seemed more worthy.
"So at the age of 27 I quit my job working for a newspaper in North Carolina and drove to my uncle's home on the coast of Maine. There I spent a year writing For God and England, a historical novel set in fourteenth century England and the Hundred Years' War.
"My uncle, a former English professor at Yale, served as my primary reader and was very supportive. For a year I got up at 4:00 in the morning and wrote until 11:00. In the afternoon I would read or get some form of exercise before going to my job busing tables at a nearby French restaurant.
"Finally the manuscript was ready to send to the James Brown Agency in New York. (Because I was a close friend of the agent's son, I knew the agent quite well and had sent him some sample chapters). My uncle took me to the local post office and snapped photos of me handing over the package to the post
mistress. There were smiles all around. I could almost hear a chorus of applause building.
"A week later I received a package in the mail. Inside was my manuscript and a pamphlet of 'How to Find a Literary Agent.' Oh
yes, and there was a nice letter from Mr. Brown who encouraged me to keep on writing but who basically told me to leave him alone.
"I was crushed. Utterly devastated. But in the years to follow I was to look back
upon that year as my graduate school in writing. There is only one way to learn to write, and that is to write--seven days a week for whatever time is allotted. I learned a lot during that year and what I learned has stayed with me.
"That good things can result from disappointment is a rule of thumb not limited to writing, but good writers worth their salt have all survived the road less traveled and have emerged the better for it."
So, WriteByNighters, how will you handle your next disappointment? Will you let it ruin you? Will you give up? Or will you persist in your goals, better, stronger, and more determined than ever before?
You know mine and Bill's vote!
If you like Bill's style, you're in luck because he's available to work with you in coaching, critique, and beyond. To express interest in working with Bill (or another member of our talented staff), simply reply to this email.
We'll start the conversation that will
finally make the difference in your writing life.
