A few titles came to mind for this blog before I settled on “Hot Off the Desk.” I considered My Musings, Monthly Message, My Thoughts, and a few others that were just as awful. I like the chosen title as it gives a sense of what this blog will be. “Hot Takes” if you will. In the moment thoughts that hit me while sitting at my desk. Bam! That’s it. No more, no less.

Hopefully these thoughts will encourage, excite, or edify! Time will tell. Also, I should probably admit up front what this blog won’t be: Shakespeare, Poe, Hughes, or any of the like. It is mentally (and physically) draining, dare I say, exhausting to write 300-page manuscripts, pouring over every chapter, section, paragraph, sentence, and word. Not to mention, punctuation, grammar and writing style. Yeah, I’m not doing that here, sorry. ? (sidenote: I love emoji’s but will try to keep them to a minimum). Sure, I will give the blog a once over. Maybe even a twice over to find mistakes and errors. However, I won’t kick myself in the pants WHEN I make a mistake. The fine-toothed-comb will stay in my pocket until it’s manuscript time. So, if anyone reads this blog and views it as a sample of what a completed work would look like, you’ll miss out?. I choose not to put the added pressure to perform on myself during a blog, when writing for contests, publishers, and consultants is already a pressure cooker. Hot Off the Desk is a personal blog to share from my heart, personal experiences and viewpoints so people can get to know me. . . if anyone so desires.

That being said, my topic for today is having persistence through the pressure. We all have pressure in our lives whether it’s from others or self-inflicted. As the Count Down Clock ticks away on the Homepage, I remember the long journey it’s taken to make my dream of writing professionally a reality. If I have anything to say about it (and I do) MENDEL is only the beginning. Yet, the first conversation, the first thought and first word of MENDEL was penned years ago. I’ll go into detail about how MENDEL came about in future blogs.

The point I want to get across now is that I had numerous opportunities to give up. Unbelievable pressure, yet not unsurmountable. The pressure of rejection, the pressure of “nay-sayers,” the pressure of self-doubt. The only way to make it through the pressure is to persevere. Personally, my perseverance comes from my faith in God. Why would I give up on a dream that God gave me? So, while the rejection letters piled, the “nay-sayers” laughed, and my doubts grew as tall as mountains. I kept climbing because I do not have to believe people’s negative opinions about me. What do you need to persist through? We don’t have to listen to the nay-sayers and doubts in our minds, we choose to listen. You can choose to learn, to get better and to grow. It’s up to you to persist.

Let’s Go Get It

D