While cleaning out my desk at work recently, I found a note
penned by my father. Since he passed away in November 2011, I know it was
written some time ago. He writes “Thanks for all the e-mails and poems and stuff. I’ve been doing
some writing and once in awhile I look at past writing. This little story “A
Special Breed” was published in the Cape Codder about twenty years ago in
slightly different form. Maybe you could pass it on to the editors of “Prime
Time.” Maybe they could publish it. Hope so.” (Note: Prime Time is a magazine
for people over 45 published monthly by the Cape Cod Times.)
I was struck by how persistent my dad was about his writing.
He was always sending out queries to editors for his stories which he called “Wendell’s
Briefs.” Some of these were published, but many were not. Somehow, he never lost his faith that it was
worth writing and sending out his work.
I miss my father and treasure this small letter I had tucked
away for future reading. Now it’s time to carry on his tradition: write and
keep sending out my writing. As Isaac Asimov said, “You must keep sending work
out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a
drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another
one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if
you persist.”
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