On January 15th, 2021, I was having a conversation with an old friend of mine about why I'd written almost nothing in the last 15 years.
The first science fiction novelette I'd ever written, Under the Graying Sea, was picked up by Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 2005, and published in 2006. I wrote a few other things, but didn't push terribly hard to get them sold, and then in 2007 I enrolled in business school to get my MBA, and let's just say the writing stopped cold.
After the MBA, I helped start a green materials company, and that along with raising a family meant I couldn't find the time to write.
But I always meant to return to it—someday. But someday was always some other day in the nebulous future, and I never dug in and wrote again.
So last year, when my friend and I were talking, I decided I'd either get writing again or I'd stop pretending it was something I'd do someday. I decided to take the weekend to think over why writing was ever important to me, why I hadn't written in so long, and whether I'd ever write again. I honestly expected that my answer would be, no, writing would become something I used to do, and I'd now strike out in new directions and try new things.
But that didn't happen. Maybe I'll get into exactly what I learned about why I write, but the upshot is that on January 18th, 2021, after barely writing a word of fiction in 15 years, I decided to write again—purely for the fun of it. I wrote in my journal that I knew I'd likely never publish any stories and I'd certainly never write a novel, but I loved the process and might as well do what makes me happy.
Fast forward one year to today.
I'm now a member of SFWA. I've sold half a dozen stories, including one to Asimov's and one to Analog. And I've just about finished the first draft of a novel.
There was no way I would have ever guessed a year ago that I'd have started writing with such earnest, and be where I am just twelve months later. I hate when people say "I could do it, so you can do it, too," because that's trite and simplifies the real challenges everyone faces. But I will say don't give up hope, and take a shot because it might really work out for you. My wish for anyone reading this is that you have a similar year.
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