There’s an old saying – you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

It’s a sports metaphor. I don’t do sports, so I have no idea who said it. I could Google it, but that feels like effort.

Anyway, the point stands: you can’t win if you don’t try.

It’s Not One Shot. It’s All the Shots.

The problem is, it’s not about taking a shot. It’s about taking shot after shot after shot – and still maybe not winning.

Also, you might be practicing the wrong thing. You could be out here perfecting your jump shot when you’re really meant to be curling. Which, frankly, feels more my speed.

But if you practice something – anything – you will get better at it.

That’s a fact.

Maybe not better than everyone else. But better than when you started.

Unless you fall and hurt yourself. Then you’ll be worse for a while.

This is not shaping up to be as motivational as I intended.

The First Time I Finally Hit “Publish”

Last year I finally published my first book, Ginger Snapped: Hot Flashes & Hot Takes.

It’s a bathroom reader – short, punchy, mildly inappropriate – and I wrote it mostly to figure out how self-publishing works.

I was terrified to publish it.

I found every excuse not to. Cleaned things that didn’t need cleaning. Delayed. Overthought. Questioned who I thought I was putting my opinions in a book.

If you’ve ever struggled with fear of publishing your work or putting yourself out there as a writer, you’re not alone. Most of us just get really good at pretending we’re “not ready yet.”

And then I did it anyway.

The sky didn’t fall.

The world didn’t end.

No one showed up at my door to tell me to sit down and be quiet.

In fact, people liked it.

I went on podcasts. Did radio. Sold books. And more importantly—I had a really good time.

The Second Book (Still Scared, Just Faster)

A few months later, I wrote another book.

Still scared to publish it. Just slightly less committed to polishing my andirons as a distraction.

My second book – 128 Small Things You Can Do Right Now To Make The World A Better Place – is even more of a bathroom reader. Shorter. Faster. Same general vibe.

I actually started it while I was supposed to be finishing Bad Dates.

Which is how this works.

Creative Avoidance Is Still Creating

You want to do the thing. You’re even doing the thing. But you’re also finding ways not to finish the thing.

Because finishing means sharing.

And sharing means people get to have opinions.

Creatives are excellent at avoiding that part.

I suspect I will never fully stop doing this.

Which is why I just keep writing more things.

When Everything Starts Turning Into More Work (In a Good Way)

Recently, I finished a guide on how to make Twitter make money for you.

After nearly 20 years of earning a living online, it seemed reasonable to finally write it down.

That one project turned into three more.

I’m also back working on Bad Dates.

And – finally – my memoir. The one I’ve been actively avoiding for years for reasons I now understand and, oddly, appreciate.

The Shift

Something shifted recently. A mindset change. Subtle, but not. What used to feel like setbacks now look like detours that were actually necessary.

My original book got sidelined, and I was angry about it for a long time. But it was supposed to happen that way.

Obviously – because it did happen that way.

That’s been a hard lesson to learn for me, we don’t like that answer, but it’s usually the right one. We get stuck being angry at the path changing, instead of noticing the path is still moving.

I Was Already in the Arena – Just Not Playing to Win

I put off going after being a “writer” for years. Ironically while writing the whole time.

Constantly. Not so much on my blog, but Facebook, Twitter, and for myself.

I was in the arena. I just wasn’t taking real shots. But once I did—things started to move.

I will never be an overnight success, and I’m don’t have a bestseller – yet. But I’m doing the work, I’ve got movement and most importantly, momentum.

Not Everything Has to Be Good

There’s that whole monkeys-and-Shakespeare idea—given enough time, random typing produces brilliance.

You don’t need to be brilliant. You just need to keep producing. Not everything will be good. Some of it will be bad and that’s ok. We need failure to push us forward. Don’t let mistakes sideline you or stall your momentum. Learn from it, that’s the purpose of mistakes.

There’s No Such Thing as an Overnight Success

I also think a lot of the one hit wonders in music  – specifically the song Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. And yes, I am aware they are not necessarily a one hit wonder in the UK, but here they were. It’s a silly song, very upbeat. Something that really irritated me in the 80s. Mostly because it got so much airplay.

I am certain that was not the first song the band ever wrote or played. I would bet they had an album or two before that song caught fire.

There is no one hit wonder, there is no overnight success. There is only working your butt off until you’re satisfied with the results. That might be a bestseller, it might be a #1 song, but it could also be a self published bathroom reader or an audio file on YouTube.

The point, again if I might point it out, is that success of any kind will only happen when you get in the arena.

So get in the arena.

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