A freckle-faced junior high student threw his glove in the dirt and stomped off the field. “I’m just not cut out for baseball. I quit.”

Danny had walked every player he’d pitched to the whole game. He had heard enough boo’s and seen more than his share of raised fists to last a lifetime. He was the victim of defeat.

His parents talked to him later that evening, telling him that they’d stand behind him in his decision, but he needed to think about it over the weekend and then talk with them one more time.

They were teaching him a very important lesson: never quit on a bad day.

Writers have days when our stories just don’t come together, when constant interruptions steal our momentum, or the well of creativity seems to have dried up.

A day or two later, we have a good day and are on a high because things just flow together. We swear there isn’t a more wonderful thing to be doing with our time than w.r.i.t.i.n.g.

If we had quit because of a bad day, we would never have experienced the success that was just around the corner.

So, if the agent doesn’t sign us, we don’t win a coveted award, or our sales for the month aren’t what we had hoped for, let’s not give up.

Because

success is waiting for us

just around the corner.