How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
I’ve had a myriad of failures in the past during college.
At first, I was an amateur writer when it came to writing college essays, as well as writing my own fictional and nonfictional short stories.
I kept mixing past tense and present tense in my works. I put punctuation marks outside of quotes when they should be inside. I wrote too many words in sentences when less is more. I even had trouble with grammar in my written works.
All these were my failures and because of these failures, my written works have been rejected multiple times.
At first, I was crestfallen, which led to depression, that I didn’t have what it takes to become a famous, or at least, a notable, writer. I was so close to giving up my dreams of becoming an author.
However, things changed when I made this particular choice.
I had tutors helping me with my writing and I learned to have thicker skin when I received constructive criticisms.
After all the criticisms and help I received, I suddenly became a better writer.
After being criticized for my debut novel, No Turning Back, I went and revised the entire novel from cover to cover. And after all the revisions I’ve made, I became sanguine enough to re-publish No Turning Back.
The next thing I knew after waiting for what felt like an eternity to me, I received compliments from other people about my novel. I was one step closer to becoming an (independent, self-published) author.
After all the reviews and ratings I’ve received from my readers, I stopped lamenting about my failures, and I remained tenacious about my career.
I moved on and resumed writing more books, such as my first horror fiction, Kimmerie, in which I also revised before publishing.
Then, I realized, “Why stop there?”
The next thing I knew, I ended up writing short stories, poetry, and even more novels, such as Treat Myself Better and Don’t Stay.
As I was writing my novels, I kept on making erroneous and egregious drafts, though that didn’t stop me from giving up. I’ve had professional critics going through my works and after hearing about their reviews, I persisted by making revisions and editing until I was satisfied and sanguine about them.
Once I was confident enough after finishing them, I published them.
Then, I waited.
Lastly, my books became more notable and I was full of elation about being one step closer to becoming a bestselling author.
I may not have made the bestsellers lists, though it, at least, puts food on the table for me.
Bestseller or not, I still remained full of tenacity and sanguinity about my writing career. I still refuse to give up my passion.
Overall, in spite of all my previous writing failures, I wouldn’t even become a notable author if it weren’t for all the help and criticism I needed.
Look at me now. You will know my name.
-Nicole Cheng