Don’t Give Up – 2019

             You know what to do.

Do you need to hear this today?

Don’t Give Up!

Sometimes I need to hear it.

You know those days when nothing seems to be going right and you think you’ve wasted time? That’s when you need to hear it. Or maybe it’s when you were so sure about something and nothing came from it. Maybe that’s when you needed to hear this command.

Don’t Give Up!

I got a rejection letter the day I got out of the hospital. I got home, took some pain pills, settled down, and made the mistake of looking at my e-mail. There was the succinct letter saying (very politely) the usual version of, “Thanks, but it’s a no. Good luck with the story.”

Oh man! I didn’t want to see that…

Not the day I get home and I’m puffy from the IV fluids.

Not the day I’m popping pain meds every six hours.

Not the day my stomach hurts because of the twenty inch incision made three days ago.

No. Nope. Nada. This sucks. Rejection sucks.

But I didn’t quit. I love that story. I know it will find a home.

How do I know?

Because a few days later I got another e-mail. Somebody — some blessed stranger — bought my chapbook. They plunked down their hard-earned monies and bought my book.

I was honored and humbled.

A couple months later I saw a call for an anthology. My story would be perfect for it. It opened April 1. So, you know I submitted it right away!

Don’t Give Up!

You never know what’s going to happen next.