Over the past few months, my writing has received a flurry of interest:

-The June issue of Silent Sports features my article Paddle and Pedal Serenade.

– The Quinceañera Text caught the attention of the editors at CommonLit.org, and they are now licensing the short story on their website. This 1,000-word story is by far the most successful thing I’ve written, and the interest it has generated over the years continues to surprise me.

-Keith and I have created a free online guide to biking and kayaking in Northern Michigan: michiganbiyaking.com.

-The editor of Birdwatching Magazine called my essay Raven’s Watch, “Lovely,” and will hopefully schedule its publication soon.

–Soloist: The Legacy of Margaret Valentine Le Long should be published in Adventure Cyclist Online this summer. Margaret’s 1897 solo-biking tour from Chicago to San Francisco has fascinated me for years, and I was glad to finally get a chance to write about it.

-I’m now a contributing writer for Awesome Mitten, a Michigan travel site.

-Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, my essay Kneading Rascal has been selected for an anthology to be published by The Every Animal Project in December. This will be the second anthology to feature Rascal, and I’m thrilled that his message of companionship and inspiration will find another audience.

I’m not sharing all this to be self-congratulatory, but rather to stress the ebb and flow of life. I continue to receive far more rejection notices than acceptance, and dozens of agents and publishers have politely said, “No,” to my novel The Snake Wrangler and Scorpion Kid.

My point is this: ignore the naysayers and find joy in whatever you love to do, whether it’s stringing sentences together, baking soufflés, skiing moguls, or stitching quilts. It’s important, of course, to acknowledge setbacks, but don’t allow them to destroy your passion. You can learn from failure and then promptly move on, focusing on success, no matter how small.

Bottom line: enjoy the process of creating and learning. As W. Somerset Maugham wrote, “The moral I draw is that the writer should see his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.”

Now get out there and enjoy life! Happy summer!