You know those movies where the protagonist just won't let himself be kept down? He gets knocked down, but he gets up again over and over until at last, his determination wins the day?

Real life does not work that way.

I was an aspiring author. I was writing in a genre where a lot of the books were condescending pieces of crap, all these first-person, poorly-written love triangles that were significant only in their astounding triteness. Even the readers and bloggers of the genre despised these elements and were sick of how condescending they were.

I wanted to deliver something better than that. I wrote manuscript after manuscript after manuscript, and got shot down again and again. Finally, the day came— my book was getting published. It was a long, hard road.

Then the book came out. I was handed to the most inept PR person in the imprint while a trite love triangle got all the publicity money, and those bloggers and readers so sick and tired of tacky, condescending love triangles? Filled their blog with reviews of tacky, condescending love triangles. They complained about them, sure, but they publicized them.

My book got great reviews, and was called refreshing, best book in the genre this year, etc.... And it utterly tanked and vanished into oblivion.

Herein ends the heroic journey. Here's to you, life!