The Wright Brothers

I have this picture of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight on the wall of my studio.

The brothers struggled for years to get an aircraft to take off, to be controlled, to be powered. They changed designs, drew inspiration from other discoveries, and they crashed often. Orville broke his leg and four ribs. They failed multiple times. After another crash, Wilbur said that flight wouldn’t be able to be achieved for a thousand years.

It’s much like putting a book together. There are things that won’t work. There is inspiration from others. There are failures. And then there’s faith that keeps the writing going, faith that the story will take off… somehow.

Another detail I really like is how you can see Wilbur’s footprints behind him, as he stops and looks up, likely thinking “...it’s finally working!”

Faith in the story you’re telling is essential to writing a project as large as a book. And to see it through to take off.

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Of course, you’re not inventing flight with each book. Working with a ghostwriter or writing coach means you’re tapping into knowledge of someone who has done it before and knows different ways to make a story fly.