Hope--A Four Letter Word

Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so powerful as Hope. With Hope, onc can think, one can work, one can dream. If you have Hope, you have everything.  (Anonymous) 


Let's face it. Writers get discouraged when they submit their work over and over and get nothing but rejections. Even those who get published sometimes feel depressed when the rejections outnumber the acceptances. Hey, we're human! Seems natural to feel down when we're striving to reach our goals and the climb is incredibly slow.

I found the quote above when putting together a program on Christmas Hope. I read it over a few times and it occurred to me that the quote fits a writer's personna quite well. If you have it, you can keep it close by, pull it out when times are tough. Look at it, stroke it like a soft kitten, and keep it close to you when needed.

If a story keeps getting rejected, hang onto hope while you make revisions. There's usually a reason a story doesn't make it. It simply needs more work.

If you're selling your work but it's going far more slowly than you'd once dreamed, hang onto the hope that eventually it will get better. Your publication list will grow longer as your writing grows stronger.
The easy way out is to give up. If you care about your writing, you won't do that.


Look at the quote again. A four letter word--HOPE--will give you the power to reach for those goals you've set in your writing life.