by Lindsey Bracket @LindsBrac

The fact of the matter is, if you’re alive, you’re going to experience disappointment. If you’re a writer, I hope you’re ready for a roller coast of ups and downs that is—to be honest—not unlike the unknown of our current global pandemic. 

Around the world, we’ve all lost something. This spring, I would have taken my first cruise, seen my first “Hamilton”, participated in a live podcast with Anne Bogel, and surprised my friend in Cincinatti for her book release. In May I’d have joined you all at conference, drinking too much chai tea and iced coffee while hanging out in Clouds, debating which dress to wear for the Selahs. 

When the world shut down, I was working as a substitute teacher, and I think of my students who lost out on their spring sports, their honors days, graduations, and Proms.

Disappointment compounds pretty easily if you let it. 

As writers, though, we have to learn to do more than live with disappointment. We have to learn how to let ourselves thrive when nothing goes according to plan.

Consider the path to publication:

First you hunker down and get the words. 

Then you wait and hope.

Then you experience rejection or acceptance.

Then you edit, revise, or start over.

Then you release the work.

Then you get a good review.

Then you get a bad review.

Then you see some sales.

Then you make some pennies money.

Then you slump.

Then you do it all over again.

The journey isn’t easy, especially the part where you have to realize one dream is deferred and it’s time to start another. Last spring I wrote a manuscript beta readers love and editors and agents find intriguing—but they don’t know how to sell it, so there it sits, in a file on my laptop waiting to be revived. 

Disappointment threatened to choke my career, but one random weekday when we all still went to school and work and restaurants, I wrote the opening lines of a new story. Took it over an hour away to a critique class with a favorite writer and received feedback that bolstered my confidence. 

Little by little I’ve begun again, just as step-by-step we’re seeing the world start again. Writing, publishing, life—it’s all full of disappointments. But the question is not will you be disappointed along the path you’ve chosen? The question is: What will you learn from your disappointment? 

Lindsey P. Brackett writes southern fiction and cooks big family meals, but she complains about the dishes. Her debut novel, Still Waters, released in 2017 and was named the 2018 Selah Book of the Year. Her latest novel, The Bridge Betweenreleased July 31, 2019. Someday she hopes to balance motherhood and writing full-time. Until then, she’s just very grateful for her public school system.

Connect with Lindsey and get her free newsletter at lindseypbrackett.comor on Instagram@lindseypbrackett.