I followed advice from seminars that screamed the same thing: Keep going until you can’t. Then do it again. I tried to follow this motto — and still do. ... Despite praise from Netflix writers to acclaimed producers, nobody would bite at my ideas. Query trenches seemed to have become my new home, and there looked like no relief from the flood.

When you think published author, you think of book signings. New York Times bestsellers, books blown up on billboards, and movie...