Dream Derailed? You’re Not Alone

It’s deflating. 

My lifelong dream of becoming a published author came true. Over the last year and a half, I’ve published five books with the biggest trade punisher in the country. Been on multiple national book tours. Appeared at some of the most well-regarded book festivals. Even did multiple author panels with one of my literary heroes, Goosebumps author R. L. Stine. 

And then my next series idea got rejected. After taking that sting, I finished another book and tried again. That one just got rejected too. 

When you reach the mountaintop and experience the success you long dreamed of, it can fool you into thinking you’ll remain there. The truth is, that’s normally not the case, at least not in a highly competitive creative field. Today’s hot new author (not that I ever was that) can become tomorrow’s has-been with mind numbing speed. It’s humbling. 

But the opposite is also true. When we experience repeated setbacks, it can feel like things will never change. Our success is over. We’ll always lose, be rejected, be ignored. That’s not reality either. 

The hard truth is this—success comes and goes. You’re up one minute and down the next. You’re applauded, then forgotten. When you venture into the arena to fight for your dreams, be prepared to get whacked. The smackdown is almost inevitable. What matters is how we choose to respond. 

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.—Theodore Roosevelt

I’m going to keep fighting. I believe in my latest book, so my agent is going to send it to other editors. While that painfully slow process happens, I’m going to work on a new novel. Keep trudging, keep pushing, keep putting one foot in front of the other in pursuit of my dream of a sustained author career. 

What dream do you have that’s worth the struggle? Make a plan, take a deep breath, and step into the arena. Fight the good fight. When you get smacked down, let yourself feel the pain, then shake off the blow, pull yourself up and start again. If you do, your dream just might come true. At worst, you’ll never be one of those timid souls who never dared to try, and you’ll take a giant step toward Becoming Yourself.