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| Ten years of hope flowed through this box. |
It’s been a funny evolution, one that underscores how time,
distance, and a study in perspective can change your view on things. Many of
you already know that it took me a long time to get my first book published.
A long time. And during those years I viewed the mailbox
mounted inside the porch of our rundown little rental with mixed emotions.
Mornings, when I’d clipped outgoing mail to it, it held my hope. Evenings, when
I’d come home from work and pull bills and publishing rejects from it, it
deflated me.
Still, my husband and I
began telling each other we had put “hope in the mail” when we sent something
off to editors and agents in New York, and in my pursuit of getting a novel
published, I put hope in the mail consistently and persistently for ten years.
During that time, the phrase expanded to mean doing something, anything,
that created possibility. It meant overcoming your fears, it meant putting
yourself out there. Rejection is hard on everyone, but it’s especially hard
when there’s an emotional component to it. Love, of course, tops that list, but
creative endeavors land not far beneath it. Creative people expose their heart,
and rejection can pierce it, leaving your creative self to shrivel up and die
if you don’t find ways to patch yourself up and try again.
For my husband and me, putting hope in the mail--sending out a
query letter, making a phone call, filling out an application…anything that
would buoy us with the belief that good things might happen—is what got us
through hard times and got me to my eventual publishing “yes.”
Living that way was my
lifeline to success.
When I began sharing my story at speaking engagements, I would
encourage the audience to put their own hope in the mail. It didn’t matter what
walk of life they were on, what mattered was that they reached for their
dreams, that they took the steps—especially the ones that scared them—and that
they moved forward bravely, creating the possibility for good things to happen.
I started to see that because things hadn't been easy on me, it help others who
were struggling believe that they, too, could reach their goals.
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| Coming January 14, 2020 |
Miraculously, I began looking back on those ten years with
gratitude.
In time, my friends began adopting the phrase, and other people
began using it too. “I put hope in the mail today!” they’d tell me, and with it
always came a sense of excitement.
Good things might
happen!
Twenty years in, over thirty novels later, people who’ve heard me
speak convinced me to write a book centered on this idea. And, big surprise,
it's titled Hope in the Mail. Yes, it’s about writing, but, as
the subtitle suggests, it’s also about life, and it’s for anyone who could use
a little boost moving forward in their own creative pursuits. How do we find
the time for our creative passion? Why does everything else manage to push it
down the list, until eventually it’s been pushed off the list entirely?
My wish for Hope in the Mail is that it inspires
anyone with a dream to pursue that dream bravely, and that it helps give them
the fortitude to create possibility--something that will move them
forward with hope in their heart.
The book itself won’t be available until January, so it may seem
curious (at least to those outside of publishing) to be talking about it now,
but the reason I am is to let you know that, meanwhile, to keep you inspired in
the pursuit of your own dreams, there’s a new Hope in the Mail on Instagram. It starts today, and will deliver a regular dose of hope through
mailbox art featuring inspirational quotes from a diverse cast of people. I
invite you to follow along, and please tell any friends who could use a boost
to meet us there.
Here’s to you keeping
hope in your mail!
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(Because people have asked: The book is available
for pre-order, and doing so helps the author more than
you might imagine, so if you're interested, thank you! Links to online outlets
here.)
