Debbie struggled through school with an undetected learning disability. She did not learn to read until she was ten years old, and barely graduated from high school. She got married as a teenager and had four children.
Despite her challenges, Debbie had dream of becoming a writer. To pursue her dream, she rented a typewriter and began typing stories every morning after her kids went to school. (This was before computers had been invented!) When the kids came home, she moved the typewriter and made them dinner. After dinner, she diligently returned to typing her stories.
Day after day, week after week, and year after year, Debbie sat and typed her stories with no success at all. She joked that when she mailed her stories to publishers, the rejections came so fast that they practically hit her in the back of the head before she could leave the post office.
After every rejection, Debbie read a chapter in The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. It gave her the strength to keep going.
Debbie did not give up. After five years of striving to succeed, her dedication and persistence finally paid off. She sold her first book. Then another. And another.
Today, Debbie Macomber has sold more than 200 million copies of her books worldwide. Her novels have spent more than 950 weeks on the New York Times best seller list, and many have been made into movies for television.
I think the lesson we can learn from her life is that we should never give up on our dreams!
