This skater didn't win an Olympic medal, and I'm obsessed with him.

I watched Cha Jun-Hwan’s figure skating routine last week in the Olympic men’s short program competition. I never finished watching that competition—I was busy rewinding Jun-Hwan’s routine to watch him over and over again.

I filmed my TV screen on my phone and watched it again while I sat in the courthouse on jury duty. I gushed about it to friends and family. I’ve been listening to the song he skated to on loop for a week.

Jun-Hwan didn’t win a medal. He placed fourth, just off the podium. But his skate has stuck in my mind like no other skater’s has throughout this entire Olympics.

There is no Olympic gold medal for literature.

Still, most writers I work with are chasing their own version of Olympic gold. You’re reaching for lofty achievements: to sign an agent, to get a book deal, to land on the endcaps of Barnes and Noble, maybe even to rise up in the bestseller lists.

Which, on the one hand, is fantastic. As I’m sure every Olympic athlete knows, it’s so incredibly satisfying and rewarding to push the limits of your potential, to set a high bar and then become the person who can surpass it.

But on the other hand, it’s a hidden trap. Because the achievements we compete for are merely proxies for what we actually want. The agents, the deals, the bookstores, the lists are simply stand-ins for excellence and validation and engagement with readers who love what we write.

Which means that it’s possible to win the agents and the deals without reaching excellence and connecting with readers. And it’s possible to lose the agents and the accolades, and still attain the excellence and engagement we most want.

So in this episode, I’m raving about Cha Jun-Hwan.

Not because he medaled, or he was expected to medal but didn’t, or he was part of any figure skating drama. He was simply there, skating a great skate—one that lives on in my mind and on my phone and in my Youtube history.

And I’m unpacking why.

What magic did his skate hold that surpassed any other?

What am I measuring besides Olympic gold?

And how can writers weave that magic, too?

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Watch Cha Jun-Hwan’s short program

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