It’s easy to feel envious or uncertain when someone else gets an agent, a book deal, or a nice advance. But here’s the thing: you don’t know how your journey will go—or theirs.

In 2006, four other writers and I launched a debut authors’ blog, The Debutante Ball, which shared the road to publication until the book’s release. Those original writers and I have gone in very different directions since then, in ways you couldn’t have predicted 20 years ago. There’s a new group each year, and I’m telling you, there is no way to know what will happen next with anyone.

Some end up on the New York Times bestseller lists. Some jump genres. Some take break and share a new book years later. Some stop writing altogether.

Try not to worry about anyone else and what they’re doing. Breathe and focus on what you want to write and how you want your work to show up in the world.