I submitted a book proposal to a publisher I believe in with everything I’ve got. Then I heard crickets. Here’s what it’s actually like to live the work — and what a camera setting taught me about what to do next.

During a guided meditation, I noticed something the instructions didn’t specify: the stairwell only went up one floor at a time. To keep climbing, I had to walk the entire length of each floor first.

Turns out I wasn’t doing it wrong. I was being shown how growth actually works.

I almost drank myself to death. Then I picked up a camera. Here’s what happened next — and why I’m done waiting to share it.