You Need to Fail to Succeed
You Need to Fail to Succeed
Imagine a tiny you, wobbling on chubby legs, eyes wide with determination. You were about to conquer the living room. Spoiler alert: you're going down. A lot.
Glee greetings!
Pull up a chair, grab your favourite drink, and let's chat about something we all know but often forget: the art of falling flat on our faces. Yup, you heard me right. We're talking about failure– and why it's the secret sauce to your writing success.
Baby Steps and Butt-Plops
Imagine a tiny you, wobbling on chubby legs, eyes wide with determination. You were about to conquer the living room. Spoiler alert: you're going down. A lot.
Remember those days? No? Well, your mom sure does. If you ask her, she'll regale you with tales of your heroic face-plants and diaper-cushioned tumbles. Lol. But here's the thrilling twist– each of those falls taught you something. Each "ouch" moment was a step towards your grand finale: walking like a boss.
You didn't pop out of the womb doing the catwalk. First, you army-crawled like your life depended on it. Then you figured out how to hoist yourself up, clinging to furniture like a tiny, drooling mountain climber. And when you finally let go? Thud. Back to square one.
But you kept at it. Fall down seven times, stand up eight – that was your motto before you could even babble it.
From Toddler Tumbles to Writer Wobbles
Now, let's fast-forward to today. You're sitting at your desk (or your bed, or your local tea shop – no judgment here), staring at a blank page. The cursor blinks mockingly. Your brilliant idea suddenly seems about as inspired as soggy rice.
Guess what? You're right back in that living room like your tiny you struggling to take your first steps.
Writing's no different from those first steps. Your first draft? It'll probably stink worse than a week-old fish. Your pitches might make editors cringe so hard they pull a muscle. But guess what? That's part of the deal.
Every "meh" sentence, every rejection email are not roadblocks. They're stepping stones. Walk! Keep walking. Sorry, write! Keep writing.
The Hall of Fame of Failure
Still not convinced? Let's take a stroll down the hall of fame of failure, shall we?
- Stephen King's first novel, "Carrie"? Rejected 30 times. He actually threw it in the trash. Thank goodness his wife fished it out.
- J.K. Rowling was a broke single mom when she started writing Harry Potter. She got turned down by 12 publishers before someone took a chance on a boy wizard.
- Dr. Seuss's first book faced 27 rejections. Imagine a world without "Green Eggs and Ham"! The horror!
These writing rock stars didn't let failure stop them. They used it as fuel. Why should you?
Embracing the Flop
So, how do we take this wisdom and apply it to our writing lives? Here are a few ideas:
1. Set Failure Goals: Sounds weird, right? Instead of aiming for acceptances, aim for rejections. Fifty rejections this year? Bring it on! It means you're putting yourself out there.
2. Create a "Failure Wall": Pin up those rejection letters. Each one is proof you're in the game.
3. Reframe Your Self-Talk: Instead of "I suck at this," try "I'm learning. This is part of the process."
4. Share Your Flops: Start a failure club with your writing buddies. Swap stories of your biggest face-plants. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll realise you're not alone.
5. Analyse, Don't Agonise: When something doesn't work, take a break to figure out why. There's always a lesson if you look for it.
The Sweet Smell of Success (It's Eau de Failure)
The truth is, success doesn't smell like sunshine and flowers. It smells like sweat, beer, and the faint aroma of yesterday's failure.
Every "no" is bringing you closer to "yes." Every crappy first draft is clearing the way for brilliance. Every time you pick yourself up and try again, you're building muscles you didn't even know you had.
So, next time you're staring at a blank page, feeling like a fraud, remember: even Shakespeare probably wrote some real stinkers before he nailed "to be or not to be."
Keep at it. Collect those "no's" like badges of honour. The "yes" is coming, and when it does, it'll be sweeter than your first kiss.
Now, get out there and fail spectacularly. Trip over your words. Stumble through your plot points. Face-plant into adverb overdose.
Your masterpiece is waiting on the other side of all those beautiful failures.
Catch you on the flip side,
With ❤️
Jaachị Anyatọnwụ
P.S. Got a great failure story? Drop me a line.
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I must have read my first drafts so many times that I convinced myself that I'm no good at writing. But you wanna know the crazy part, I see people writing crap, selling it and actually making some money. I mean I cringe because mine wasn't that worse before I condemned it. Thank you for this piece. I need to read it again and again.
I am learning to put myself out there. Cheers to all the failures that leads to success! Thank you Jaachi.