You’re Not Good Enough Yet and That’s a Great Thing

A reminder that life is long

Michael Thompson
Forge
Published in
4 min readOct 28, 2021

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757 days.

That’s how long it’s been since a literary agent reached out asking if I’d be interested in putting together a book proposal based on a few articles I’d written.

A few days later, after I let the jitters simmer, I sat down convinced I’d be able to knock it out.

Four hours later, I had nothing.

The next day, the same thing.

Self-doubt came pouring in.

“I’m not good enough,” I told myself. “I have a hard enough time putting together 900 words for an article, what makes you think you can write an entire book?”

Winter came and passed. And the Spring of 2020 had other plans. Over the summer, once COVID restrictions let up here in Spain, my family and I loaded up our car and took off for the coast.

“You’ve got a month to get this moving!” I told myself.

It wasn’t all a waste. I snorkeled a lot and caught buckets of fish with my kids. I even wrote what I thought were some pretty solid articles.

But in terms of the book proposal: zilch.

“I’m not going to touch it till next summer and just focus on becoming a stronger writer,” I…

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Forge
Forge

Published in Forge

A former publication from Medium on personal development. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson

Written by Michael Thompson

Co-creator of two cool kids • Storytelling Coach •.Fast Co., Insider, Forbes • Free storytelling guide here: https://bit.ly/3h1KZeT

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