Last week I finished

Roxane Gay

’s Opinions and found some of my favorite pieces at the very end, in the selections from her advice column. These pages in particular resounded with me now because, while I’m not necessarily worried about becoming too old for success, I do find myself wondering if I’m good enough to have a writing career. I am not the one who will ultimately decide that, but I do get to decide whether or not I will continue to write. And I will continue, with growing confidence. I believe in my writing more and more all the time and think that what I have to say is important and brings forth a perspective that is original and unique. I am empathetic, open, creative, and (sometimes annoyingly) optimistic. I believe that there is room for that kind of writing.

If you don’t feel like clicking, zooming, and scrolling through the image below to read these pages, I will leave the most inspirational and impactful words below (it is the majority of what’s written).

“There is no age limit to finding artistic success. Sometimes it happens at 22 and sometimes it happens at 72 and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. No, you are not too old to have a writing career, no matter your age. Yes, it is perfectly reasonable to feel defeated when you've worked so hard at writing and have yet to make your mark so long as you don't stay defeated. No, you are not promised artistic success simply because you want it.

What I wish I could have told myself when I was hopeless about my writing prospects is that I should have defined artistic success in ways that weren't shaped by forces beyond my control. Sometimes, success is getting a handful of words you don't totally hate on the page. Sometimes success is working a full-time job to support your family and raising your kids and finding a way, over several years, to write and finish a novel. Sometimes it's selling a book to a small press for 25 copies of your book and a vague promise of royalties you may never see. And sometimes, if you are very lucky, artistic success is marked by the glittery things so many of us yearn for — the big money deals, the critical accolades, the multicity book tours, the movie options.

… Writing and publishing are two very different things. Other writers are not your measure. Try not to worry about what other people your age or younger have already accomplished because it will only make you sick with envy or grief. The only thing you can control is how you write and how hard you work. The literary flavor of the week did not get your book deal. All the other writers in the world are not having more fun than you, no matter what it might seem like on social media, where everyone is showing you only what they want you to see.

Write as well as you can, with as much heart as you can, whenever you can. Make sure there are people in your life who will have faith in your promise when you can't. Get your writing in the world, ideally for the money you deserve because writing is work that deserves compensation. But do not worry about being closer to 50 or 65 or 83. Artistic success, in all its forms, is not merely the purview of the young. You are not a late bloomer. You are already blooming.”

My main takeaway from this advice is that you can start, and finish, a project whenever you want. It is up to you— as much as you may think that the power to create or move forward is not in your hands. We are all more powerful than we are made to believe, in myriad ways. I forget and remember this all the time; it is a taxing cycle.

But I’m on the upswing right now. And I hope that, after reading this, you might be too.