End of Year Encouragement

I'm writing this for myself as much as I'm writing this for you.

Think you didn't get done, or didn't accomplish, or didn't make, or didn't have, or didn't overcome -- fill in the blank, this year?

Don't give up. Time is just time. And all things are possible outside of time.

For me, the end of year always culminates in me wondering what I wrote, if anything and did I have any of these writing published?

Of course, being published doesn't equal success ... and yet, sometimes it does.

There's a ton of writing I do that no one will ever see. Not just because I didn't send it out into the world, but because no one wants it. Yep. It isn't the right fit (or it really isn't any good) and I have to keep looking for the right home for the piece.

I'm always, always reminding myself I'm in the rejection business.

Because it gets old, this whole rejection thing. Yet, if you know it's part of the job, it's manageable. That's what writing, and publishing, is about. A tough exoskeleton is critical for survival.

If I'm never published again, that needs to be okay. What isn't okay is if I don't try and don't go for what I want.

True failure is not doing something about my desires -- even if they're small.

I love the passage below, written by one of my favorite authors. Kate DiCamillo is basically where it's at when it comes to being published and an award-winning writer. But by golly, she knows how to write. And she didn't give up. And this is why she is who she is.

This was on her Facebook page months ago and I took a screenshot of it. Because, if she's saying it, then I need to believe it, too.

Read and apply. Read and apply. Little by little, we can accomplish what we set out to do, even if it's years later, or even if we don't see it when we want to see it.

Even if it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't.

All we have to do is keep showing up and watch the miracle unfold.

-HJS