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The Quick Message From Brandon Sanderson That Will Rewire Your Brain
“I said I was a writer. And they said, “Ah! unemployed.” To which I replied, “I don’t think so, I just hit number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.”
Four years ago, I almost stopped writing.
After signing my first publishing contract and receiving a good advance, the day finally came to release my second book.
That same day, they declared confinement in my country.
Thousands of my printed books would remain behind the windows of bookstores all over Spain, where no one would see them.
(Curious note: in time, I would discover that the books that are not sold are melted down to make a paste with which they print lottery tickets. That's where my dream ended up, in lottery tickets that people would buy in the hope of fulfilling their dreams. Moral: one's nightmare can become another's heaven :-)
That same day, I went to a supermarket to prepare for confinement. The store looked like an apocalypse, with people fighting for toilet paper and water bottles.
In the middle of it all, I saw a counter full of books, among them mine.
No one saw them or had time to buy a book…