A Mike Dooley email hit me hard this morning, and by the time my coffee was ready I had a lot more to say about ordering than he did. Turns out the real lesson wasn't about coffee at all.

I submitted. I waited. My name wasn’t on the list. Here’s what happened in the days after — and the one question that changes how you see every obstacle, detour, and door that doesn’t open.

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.