Wendelin van draanen husbandry and farming

In tropical fish farms, regular

Thursday, July 18, Creating Hope. Ten years of hope flowed through this box. 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. I also received rejections from New York in that box 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. Love, of course, tops that list, but creative endeavors land not far beneath it. 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.

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. 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. Good things might happen! And, big surprise, it's titled Hope in the Mail.