I am interested in the subject of failure because I have failed at so many things that I’ve attempted to do. Those writing on this subject seem to have the same theory, that failure goes hand-in-hand with learning. You have to fail multiple times in order to succeed. The most used example is that of Michael Jordan – he cites his thousands of missed shots in practice. He slowly, in missing baskets, perfected his skills. And what we are left with is the image of him, at the end of an NBA final, having the final shot in hand. There he was, with the whole world watching, and dang it, he sank that ball right in the net, winning the championship.

What if he’d missed? Would he then have gone down as a bona-fide failure? It was, of course, at that moment that he should have bowed out of sports entirely, having reached the pinnacle of success. No, he went on and ran a marathon, played golf, played baseball, not doing near as well as he did playing basketball. The hope was, of course, that he would excel at one of these other sports, but he did not.

And there’s Diana Nyad, who made five attempts to swim from Cuba to Key West. Five attempts, in four not even coming close to finishing. She did her fifth swim, after having worked tirelessly to get a crew together, for by then no one believed that she could do this. But, she believed in

The 2020 solstice book sale

herself. And her self-belief was based upon the fact that she’d learned what she needed to do in the previous four swims.

Me, I have accepted the fact that I’m a mediocre writer. I also lacked the drive that some have, which is those who write so well and publish with reputable publishers.

I’m reminded of this on Saturdays when I sort books by the hundreds. Many of them are by authors that I’m familiar with. I, who know what it takes to publish one book, am in awe of those who’ve published a dozen books. I’m not talking about the diet books, or the change your life in X amount of time books; but rather, the classics. Right now, I’m reading Tracy Kidder’s Mountains beyond Mountains. It is a book is about Paul Farmer, a Harvard educated doctor whose spent his life in the public health sector, mainly treating Haitians who have infectious diseases. I’m impressed by Farmer’s accomplishments. But at the same time, I’m impressed by Kidder’s portrayal of this hard working and incredibly complex individual. It’s also repeatedly occurred to me that Kidder’s job as a writer was doubly difficult in that he had to acquire a working knowledge of infectious diseases in order to write about this man and the world he inhabits.

I decided to work on the Bright Lights Book Project for a year. This was in January 2021. I began working on this project the previous year – it had many ups and downs. Yes, I’d call the downs failings and the ups successes. So far, this year, I’ve had nothing but successes. I think all writers should do something like this at some point in their career. It’s a real eye opener. But I’ll save those insights for another time.

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