Freelance Success: You never “make it” – and that’s OK

For the last two years, I have worked on a book. When I sent the copy edited manuscript to my editor – the last step before the Word doc becomes an advance reader’s copy – I expected to feel something. Instead, I returned to my day gig copy editing blog posts for a major consumer magazine without so much as whoop or Michael Jordan-inspired fist pump.

There’s a scene in the movie Parenthood when the patriarch (Jason Robards) describes being a father to his adult son (Steve Martin). “You never cross the goal line, spike the ball, and do your touchdown dance,” he says. “Never.” That’s as apt a description for writing as I’ve ever encountered as well as the mindset required for this job.