“Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before. Get up and bite on the nail.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
When I was sixteen, I got my first job, bagging groceries at a small-town Hy-Vee. I was “a helpful smile in every aisle” no matter what the day had given me up to that point. I stood at the check-out, cheerfully asking “paper or plastic” to every customer.
I learned a lot in that first job. I learned a firm handshake, a warm smile, and how to work hard. My approach to every job since then has been a constant continuation of striding quickly, grinning in a Looney Tunes tie, to the front of the store to deal with the six o’clock rush. Clock in and get to work.
That is the way I write. I will write anywhere, at any time, on anything. No matter what else is happening around me, no matter what other issues life has presented me, no matter how I feel, I straighten my Bugs Bunny tie, put on that smile, and get to work.