My daughter wants to be an author when she grows up. As luck would have it, one of my high school friends has done just that. Lindsey Leavitt has published four young adult novels and has at least one more already on the way. The third book in her Princess for Hire released this summer and I took my daughter to the book signing party. She was pretty exited. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought we’d get a book, have Lindsey sign it, schmooze for a few minutes and then be on our way. Lindsey started talking about the process of actually writing a book (it’s not as easy as one might think!) and then getting it published. She talked about getting a manuscript back from her editor with red all over it. And then she unrolled this fantastically long banner of laminated sheets of paper. It was all of the rejection letters she had received before finally getting her book accepted by a publisher.


It would’ve been very easy to have given up, even after that very first rejection letter, but had she given up…. she would not have ever reached her goal or accomplished her dream. Lindsey did not give up, she worked harder and persevered and landed herself a pretty sweet contract!

It’s a good thing too, because her books are so enjoyable. I’ve read every one and have found them to be humorous, thoughtful and well-written. And her “Going Vintage” will be out in March 2013! If you want to see some other pics from the book release party, Lindsey wrote about it on her blog (the end of the post, she wrote about a lot of stuff lol!)

End of story: Don’t give up. Set a goal. Reach for it. Work hard. Don’t let others bring you down.