Happy New Year everyone. One of my goals for 2019 is to write three books so the other day, I started to straighten my work space which was a wreck after releasing Northwest to Love last month. I stumbled upon an article I wrote twenty years ago and experienced a blast from the past.

The article was about my early writing career and I emphasized how difficult it is to deal with rejections. This was before Indie publishing and you didn’t get published unless an editor recognized your potential and was willing to promote you. With so many others competing for their attention, there were many tears of frustration.

I tried not to be discouraged. I joined writer’s groups, coordinated writing conferences, attended workshops and met super people along the way. One was Gary Provost, often called the writers’ teacher. He had a special way of showing you better ways to develop a story, characters, plot, scenes…you name it. But his most important lesson was being persistent.

I became friends with Gary and his wife and treasure a letter he sent to me during one of my dark times.  “Do your best and your best will be enough. Your day will come.” I framed that letter and hung it in my office in the library.

I’ll admit that I gave up writing for a long time but the written word always appealed to me and I strived to write the best in everything I wrote. After finding the article, I frantically searched for that framed letter I had packed away when I retired. Wayne found it and it is now hanging in my new work space.

Have you ever been discouraged? Needed words of encouragement?

I plan to write three books this year and whenever I get discouraged I’ll read that letter. Gary suffered a massive heart attack in 1995, but he always preached what he wrote in one of his books. “Persistence works. Make every word count.”