Persevere

In 2006, I emailed a writer whom I've admired since 1975. In my first sentence, I wrote that my attempt to contact her was 30 years in the making. I was a little nervous, not sure what would happen, if anything.

Less than 30 minutes later, my inbox showed a reply. My heart started to pound; nearly 3o years, and a reply so fast? Was she annoyed? I breathed a sigh of relief as I read her first sentence, "Glad you finally got around to writing!"

Since then, I touch base with her occasionally via email. She's encouraging and realistic. In one email she wrote that I'll need to PERSEVERE in order to get a book published these days, and explained why.

I don't need to close my eyes in order to see the upper case she brought into play for that word, PERSEVERE.

I expect many rejections. Perhaps someday I'll display them on a wall, like a hodgepodge afghan or quilt made of different yarns or pieces of fabric, but only after I have a "subject" to place in the center, hopefully, a dust jacket for Half Italian.

- PJ