For anyone who has taken an entry level programming course, one of the first programs you write is a simple app to print “Hello World.”

Today, this takes on a new meaning to me. Today, I start again on my writing journey.

It has been quite awhile since I last ranted and raved on this page of mine. Sometimes I have daily posts while other times (such as the past year) my posts are nowhere to be seen. I’d love to tell you all I’ve been writing up a storm, or that my novel has finally taken off (more on that later) but instead I turned into a turnip who has been more obsessed with other people’s stories than my own. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but that’s not how you get published.

First off, Mom, if you’re reading this (of course you are) I’m sure my tone when you talk about psychics tells you my stance on them. Sorry, but I can’t give myself up to their ways nor their messages (despite my love for a good ghost story, I know they’re not real too). But after our Christmas phone call, I spent many hours thinking about my story. Although I’m not doing this because a psychic told you I would make it this year (because I would HATE to prove her right) but I’m doing it because of the other things you said. I try so hard at everything else, why give up now that the hardest part is over? It will never succeed if it doesn’t get out there.

Is it ready? Am I ready?

Will either of us ever be ready?

Reading success stories such as J.K. Rowling or the one of a man who was published after dozens of rejections at the age of forty eight, should be uplifting. I should laugh because my failures will stack up and eventually I too can join their author’s circle, but these stories are double edged. They won after that many rejections. For me,those crushing defeats lay ahead in wait.

What’s my number of rejections? Ten? Fifty? One hundred?

Much like someone who is starting a marathon, I shouldn’t think about the distance.

I shouldn’t think about how many steps to the end.

I shouldn’t think about the hills and turns coming ahead.

What I should do, is focus on putting one foot in front of the other, and realise that even if I trip and fall, I learn from it, dust myself off and keep going.

After all, the finish line has to be out there somewhere.