Why writing at high altitude gives me an edge

 

Why writing at high altitude gives me an edge 

I live at 7,200 ft, on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. Our winters last approximately from November to May. When people visit us, they get altitude sickness or a nosebleed every time they walk up a flight of stairs. But it's a great place to write. Or at least, I've convinced myself that's true. For one thing, the long winters means more time indoors - sitting at my laptop.

Another thing: athletes that spend significant amounts of time at high altitude have an advantage when they compete at low altitudes, because their bodies are thrilled about all the extra oxygen. I don't actually think this translates to writing, but I like to joke that it gives me an edge. 

By 2012 I had written four full length novels, some with multiple drafts, most of them critiqued and one of them even edited by a professional editor. I hit the 10,000 hour "expert" mark (or 1 million word mark). In 2013-2014 I was actively querying my science fiction novel, Star Tripped, with some partial requests and one full request. But in 2015 everything abruptly stopped when one of my daughters died in an accident. I completely gave up on seeking publication (this was also partially because of the rise of cruel reviewers on Goodreads).  

But I still loved to write, and it was part of my healing process. Working on and off, I finished a complete re-write of my first book, Refuge, in 2018. I felt hopelessly inadequate when I re-read it a year later, along with my other manuscripts, and they "fell flat" compared to books by my favorite authors: Naomi Novik, Laini Taylor, Juliet Marillier, Sharon Shinn, Andy Weir, Garth Nix, Tolkien, and CS Lewis. I was missing something. This article offers a possible reason: rather than 10,000 hours, a better rule is 10,000 interations that keep upping your game.

While I had always had fun "analyzing" books for writing craft, I started really digging into them. I once heard of a writer who learned to write better by copying his favorite book word for word as an exercise. I didn't take it that far, but I did re-read recently-successful books multiple times and completely marked them up (I've re-read my favorite book twelve times). I began writing slower, with more attention to detail. Starting in 2023, I started writing everyday, even if it was only one sentence a day (most days that five minute committment easily turns into a couple hours). I completely rewrote Refuge (for the fourth time!) and finished it in 2024. I finally, FINALLY felt that my writing was worthy of the story I wanted it to be.  

I'm currently working on a second draft of my science fiction novel that could be marketable, but I'm still uncertain about publication.  Sometimes I struggle with feeling like a failure for not yet being published after years of writing, but other times I feel complete wonder that I've come so far without giving up. I have learned to love writing simply for the sheer joy of creation, I've learned the discipline of writing daily, and I've even learned to love editing for how it can take a world of rough beauty and polish it into something breathtaking.