The “Why Not Me?” Challenge
I’ve had some success as a writer. I have one published novel with a second one coming out soon. I’ve written a handful of other manuscripts. I keep learning, and practicing and trying (and failing, too). And still, I feel a familiar pang of envy when I read about other writers who have even more success—more books published, more sales, more big-name bestsellers. Why them and not me?
The easiest answer is that their books are better. Sometimes that’s true—I know I still have a lot to learn—sometimes it’s not. I do write well. Confidence in my own ability was hard-won and hard-earned, but I own it. Still, they have what I don’t, so why them and not me?
You know what question I rarely ask myself? Why them and not me when my friend got diagnosed with breast cancer. When another friend’s husband needed a kidney transplant. When a friend’s colleague lost her house to wildfire.
I’m grateful I’m healthy and safe, but it’s easy to forget that the pendulum of good luck and bad luck swings both ways. All I know is what I can control. Which, in the writing world, is my own learning. Maybe someday that bestseller good luck (and hard work) will find me; maybe it won’t. Regardless, I’ll keep persevering.