As you might have heard, the Chicago Marathon took place last week, winding its way through the streets of our grand city. Watching the coverage on TV, one comment stood out–that just starting the race is a victory and success in itself.

It’s often said that writing a novel is a lot like running a marathon. The two activities have much in common:

• Both require hard work to prepare for the long haul. While a writer’s legs may not be moving as they write, their brains are to conjure up plots and dialogue. 
• Both require commitment of time and energy to keep training and working toward the end goal.
• Both require continuous learning and dedication. Athletes continue to learn about how their bodies respond to the physical demands of running a race, while writers continue to learn about their craft and how their creative minds work. 

Perhaps the biggest similarity is this: Success comes by getting to the starting line or by sitting down to write. Because the only true sign of failure is not showing up. 

That’s why we must honor our successes AND our failures. After all, failure has a lot to say about our success.

For runners, failure might look like pulling up lame during a race and having to quit, or it might mean an injury or illness sidelines them. For writers, failure might mean never finishing a story you started writing or receiving rejection letters for a story you poured your heart and soul into. 

The Rome Business School in Italy outlines several benefits of embracing failure in our work, no matter what kind of work that might be. Failure can help you:

• Develop resilience – the ability to bounce back from setbacks and challenges.
• Encourage creativity – It forces you to consider other solutions to your writing problems and think outside the box.
• Foster a growth mindset – It helps us view challenges as opportunities, which we use as a stepping stone toward our main goal
• Build confidence – Failure doesn’t have to define you. Instead, it can set the stage for figure efforts.
  

Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb, phonograph, and movie camera, among other things, failed many times. He was noted for saying: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

The lesson to be learned from Edison is this: If we find something that doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean we failed. It simply means that we need to explore other possible solutions. 

Since failure can be instrumental in our career growth, it might be worthwhile to celebrate and honor your writing failures as much as your successes. Here are some possible suggestions:

• Compile all your rejection letters and save them in a file. Occasionally read them to remind you of how far you’ve come in your writing journey. Seeing the feedback can spur you to keep working toward your goal or to find solutions to some of your nagging writing issues. Some writers even frame their rejection letters so they can see them all the time.
  
• Light a candle and read each rejection letter out loud. Alternatively, if you’re working with beta readers or an editor, read aloud any of their negative feedback. Try not to react viscerally to comments, but allow their meaning to sink in. Maybe they didn’t get the message you were trying to convey in your story, in which case you may need to rewrite the message differently.
  
• Journal your reactions to failure and rejection. As you write, you might discover why rejection makes you feel like a failure or why it has such a strong hold on you.
  
• Rethink the role of failure in your work. Sometimes you have to view it as a stepping stone toward your ultimate goal rather than a dead end. What can you learn from the failed experience? Failure can teach us many things–courage, perseverance, resilience. It can coax you to try new techniques and pull you out of your comfort zone.
  

Whether you’re an athlete training to run in the next marathon or a writer working on their first (or tenth) novel, it’s okay to embrace failure. It has a lot to teach us if we’re willing to listen to its lesson and learn from it. The only true failure is not trying.