Thank you!

Thanks for your comment, Gretchen! It helped me to reframe it myself. And I think Simon Sinek is a rockstar!!

"Should" absolutely needs to get kicked out of the lexicon. It sucks wide, and is so damaging to writers...especially most female writers, who get should-ed to death by life anyway.

Thanks, Karen! I've heard it called "clearing," that processing of emotions. And it is worth it to just go through instead of go around and smack up against those pesky emotions later on.

That's a very tough cycle to break! Good for you, Denise, working on breaking it. I think you're winning.

Swear to God, Barb. Here's the way I heard it: Before writing The Call of the Wild, Jack London was rejected 664 times. In a talk Janet Fitch (White Oleander) gave, she said that Call of the Wild itself was rejected more than 900 times. Perseverance wins the day if you write the stories of your heart (which you have) and write them well (which you have). The rest is just subjective opinions, or things we need to re-write.

I'm with Laura...you've totally got this!

p.s. Sorry for the delay in answering this - I had a vicious three day migraine this week and I've been falling down on the job.

I'm so happy to make you so happy! You've touched many many writers and hopefully that comforts you in those times when you fall on your behind (or your friend). LOLOL.

I like the idea of "failure" as experimentation - it sounds like a science project. My sister always told me her fave part of science is that failure wasn't really a part of it. Even when the hypothesis was wrong, she could adjust and test a new hypothesis.

And I read your last sentence and thought, "OMG, she has that perfect skater look, even now!" 🙂

Your Daddy was a wise man, Bob! I agree that giving up is the worst thing, especially for creatives. Giving up a project...fine. But giving up our creative life? That's just a tragedy.