Stephen King almost burned CARRIE if not for his wife, Tabitha. Before the success of CARRIE, he was submitting short stories to magazines, had his work published and paid–but he almost threw CARRIE away.
Maya Angelou had the mentorship of James Baldwin and other writer’s groups to keep her going.
Octavia Butler said that she wrote about power so much because she had so little.
Every writer needs people in their lives to believe in them, to see brilliance in their work that their doubt cannot see or be seen. I call these people the YIELD signs. These are the people who tell you that you can, when you can’t.
They tell you that turn is a feeling.
They tell you to write writing something else.
They pre-order books for their own book clubs.
They follow your email lists, and social media.
They call you to check on the invisible people.
They tell you that you can go forward if you want. And better yet–they are there as you go. They will be there for you as you go…they will be there as you turn back around to go forward. Those people are invaluable–keep them! Don’t leave them at gas stations, or parking lots when you think you got it all together.
Take them with you…you will need them again.