James Patterson got rejected by thirty publishers. I've had thirty readers say yes. So why did I stop telling people about my book?
Thirty Yeses
I Told AI To Edit My Book. It Rewrote My Plot.
I handed over a finished manuscript and asked AI to help me edit it. It rewrote passages and changed plot points, and it was right to — I never said what I meant by "edit." What that cost me, and what it taught me about listening to people.
The Other Tony Robbins
A guy from my old Toastmasters club wished me happy birthday by calling me the other Tony Robbins. I smiled. Then I had to sit with the fact that I've spent this whole year running from exactly that.
The Shoestring
The truck died on the side of the road and nobody was coming out. I fixed the throttle linkage with the shoestring out of my own boot, and two weeks later my manager wanted to talk to me about proper notice.
Lunch and Honesty
I've been circling the same conclusion about my year for months — walks, notes, a mid-year review I never opened. My wife got there over a shared pizza.
David Willis 