JUST DO IT: PART TWO

I'm sure there are times when we look back and shake our heads over missed opportunities. Big and small. Why didn't we pick up on this or that? Why didn't we take that chance?

It happens to all of us.

Then again there are times when we look back and smile. 'Thank God I pushed an idea to see it come to happy conclusion.

I had an idea some years ago, and that's all it was, for a novel. I was working at a weekly magazine in Montreal and the very idea of writing one seemed impossible. 'Way beyond me.

Yet it stuck with me; it grew until, not being able to shake it free. I began working on it one late evening with no thought of even how it would end.

I spent hours revising what became a manuscript, tightening the storyline, and with endless polishing I finally decided it was ready to find a publisher. I called it MONTREAL ADVENTURE. A novel for readers in their early teens.

It was picked up by a publisher, Burns & MacEachern and turned into a hardcover. It blew my mind! Who'd ever think I'd become an author! Not me.

Author's comment: There's a message in all this. Whatever you're trying to accomplish, don't let the idea die. Try things that might well take you in a new direction. Out of your comfort zone. And enjoy the ride.