Why I didn't give up on the dream

Every writer (and artist) has their story about someone who told them to give up. Here’s mine.

In high school, I used to have big dreams that I would one day be a famous author who sold millions of copies and had adoring fans. Perhaps I was aiming too high—but I was still a kid.

Have you ever had a big dream like that?

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with an assistant teacher. He was actually a student teacher, still going through college.

He said, “You’ll never make it as a full-time author,” and that only celebrities like Stephen King ever make it that far. Basically, he was telling me to give up on the dream I’d had for more than five years.

There was some truth to what he said (though a lot has changed in publishing since then). It was hard to hear at the time, but it’s helped me to learn an important lesson.

Only you can decide what success looks like for yourself.

I heard a popular writer on a podcast, talking about how he was mowing the lawn one day when he got an important phone call. It turned out that his book had reached the New York Times bestseller list!

He was ecstatic, and relished the moment. But, as he put it, “Then I had to go back to mowing the lawn.” The success he thought would bring him so much happiness turned out to be just another event of the day.

The truth is, whenever we chase a goal, it’s not really a specific result we’re chasing. There’s something behind that dream that we really want.

I used to think I needed to become a famous author with millions of adoring fans in order to be happy. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily mind that, but I know it’s not the actual goal.

What I really want is to be able to express myself—to work out the questions that keep me up at night, and to tell stories in a way that only I can. I want to share my work with others, so that I’m not alone in asking these questions.

Most importantly, I want people to enjoy my stories. I want them to forget about their busy lives for a while and get lost in another world.

And I’ve realized that I don’t have to be a New York Times bestselling author to accomplish those things. In a small way, I’m already doing those things now.

And I’m grateful that you’re going on this journey with me!

Thanks for reading,

J. W. Pierce

P.S. What’s one big dream you’ve always had?