In the current issue of Quill & Quire, I was pleased to see a lengthy and glowing article about middle-grade/young adult author Susin Nielsen. I have a particular affinity for Susin, not because I know her personally or because I’ve read her books—although, thanks to their reputation, they’re high on my to-read list—but because she has the same agent I do.

Then I flipped a few pages further into the issue and saw a profile on another of my agent’s authors: Susan Juby—who I have had the pleasure of meeting and whose works I have enjoyed.

My first thought on reading these profiles was: good on them! My second was: when will this be me?

It’s hard to fight off the green-eyed monster. It’s hard to not wish for time to tick a little bit quicker, to get a little bit further ahead. To wish I had started on this fiction-writing journey a tad sooner.

Not that I would change one iota of how my life has proceeded—so there’s no way I could be further along in my writing career than I am. There’s no point daydreaming that I had followed their trajectory instead of mine. I have no regrets.

Still, it would be lovely to peek into the future and see if I arrive in a similar place someday.

Or maybe it’s better to take it as it comes.

How do you feel about where you currently are?

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