by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart

A few of you? I know your writing dreams. Most I don’t. But I suspect they’re similar to mine. We want to get published. We want to stay published. We want to impact lives; give them hope or laughter or point the way to redemption and joy. 

But the path isn’t easy. Setbacks? Uh, yeah.

So I’d like to share a story that might inspire you to keep going even though your writing dreams have been dashed again and again.

Back in 1989 I was working for a Seattle radio station called KZOK that was bought by another company. They promptly fired our solid morning show and announced they were bringing in a new team. 

No one at the station was happy, but they promised us the new morning show would be superstars.

I was in management at the time, so myself and five others met the new morning show privately on a Friday afternoon. (Their first day on air would be Monday.) 

They called themselves The Me and Him Show. Hmm… red flag anyone?

After introductions, they did a few bits for us—a preview of what would be coming. During their five minutes of banter there were crickets. No one laughed. Not even a weak smile. I immediately (along with everyone else in the room) thought they would bomb. 

We were right. They did. Ten months later Me and Him were blown out.

But I will admit, the sidekick (“Him”) made me chuckle every now and then. So I remembered him.

“Him” didn’t give up. He struggled, kept trying. Went to a station in Florida. Got fired again. Went to another station. Fired. Another station. Fired. 

You’d think at this point he’d have figured he wasn’t cut out for the entertainment industry. But he didn’t. He refused to bow out. I won’t bore you with all the details, but he continued to believe. Would not be discouraged. Continued to get better, continued to press into the dream. 

You might have heard of “Him.” He goes by Jimmy now. 

Jimmy Kimmel. 

He ended up doing okay. Yeah, more than okay.

Never give up your dream, yes?

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The Pages of Her Life

How Do You Stand Up for Yourself When It Means Losing Everything? Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy.

Then the bomb drops. Her dad was living a secret life and left her mom in massive debt.

As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop. The pressure to rescue her mom mounts, and Allison pours her fears and heartache into the journal.

But then the unexplainable happens. The words in the journal, her words, begin to disappear. And new ones fill the empty spaces—words that force her to look at everything she knows about herself in a new light.

Ignoring those words could cost her everything . . . but so could embracing them.

James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of ten novels and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish one of his stories. He’s also a branding expert, audiobook narrator, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder with his son, Taylor, of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington state.