The Part Of The Writing Journey Nobody Warned Me About

Rugged terrain. Slippery slopes. Broken pathways. Avalanches. I’ve always heard a writer’s journey to traditional publication never runs smooth or flat. Expect challenges, they said. Expect to be discouraged, they said. 

Expect it to be like climbing a mountain.

Which is honestly what encouraged me to pursue the traditional publishing route in the first place. When you’ve lived in Illinois your entire life, the thought of scaling a mountain—even a metaphorical mountain—sounds appealing. 

So I started my writing journey ready to climb. I could practically hear the voice of the Mother Abbess from The Sound of Music serenading me each time I wrote. 

Sure, I knew I’d hit some tough spots. Some rocky paths. Some steep inclines. But as along as I kept putting one foot in front of the other and never stopped moving, all would be well. One day I’d reach the top of that publication mountain. Right?

Right.

Sort of.

Here’s the thing about the path to traditional publishing nobody warned me about.

Not all of the journey is spent on the mountain. Sometimes you go through seasons when you’re off the metaphorical mountain…and on a metaphorical treadmill…in your metaphorical basement. (And your metaphorical basement isn’t finished with a flat screen TV, just to be clear.)

This part of the writing journey is not all that fun. Traversing dangerous ravines? Belaying past treacherous icefalls? Sure. Sign me up. But slapping my feet day after day on a nonmoving piece of equipment next to a rackety washing machine on one side and a creepy spider-infested crawl space on the other?

In the wise words of Lucy Ricardo… Ewwwwww.

Let’s be real here. Nobody wants to step foot on an actual treadmill, let alone a metaphorical treadmill. It’s boring. No matter how hard you push yourself, the scenery never changes. How are you supposed to get anywhere without going anywhere?

Then I remembered what treadmills are all about. They weren’t invented to transport you to a better place. They were invented to transform you into a better person. A healthier person. A stronger person. 

We often focus as writers on the journey to publication, but we seldom remember that writing, like running, isn’t just about reaching a certain destination. It’s about changing who we are on the inside along the way.

This has been a tough season to be a writer. Shoot, it’s been a tough season to be anything. A parent. A nurse. A teacher. You name it. It’s tough when it feels like you’re running your heart out and not going anywhere. But not going anywhere is a far cry from not growing stronger. 

I’ve had to keep reminding myself every shift I show up to the hospital when it’s the last place I want to be, every day I make time for my kids when I have a dozen other goals I’d rather accomplish, every writing session I force myself into the chair instead of vegging out in front of the TV, my endurance is growing. My faith is building. I’m a better person than I was the day before.

And someday in the future, when I’m facing a challenging climb up a particularly steep section of my metaphorical mountain, I’ll be glad for all the conditioning I did on that terribly boring metaphorical treadmill in the basement this year.