Thankful

This time last year, I hadn't signed with my agent, and I wasn't sure if any book I ever wrote would ever be published.

This time two years ago, Across the Universe was just an idea I'd not started writing.

This time three years ago, I was just realizing that the project I'd been working on...wasn't working. It was the tenth novel I'd written, without one single sale.

Recently, people have been asking me, "How did you know Across the Universe was the One?"

I didn't.

I always thought whatever I was working on at the time would be the One.

In the past, whenever I looked at those ten unpublished novels, I'd feel ashamed.

I'd feel like a failure.

Now?

I feel thankful.

I couldn't have written the eleventh novel without writing the first ten. I couldn't be here, without being there.

I'm thankful for Across the Universe and all the dreams that have come true with it.

But I'm also thankful for the toil and rejection that came before it.