You're going to fail!

When I was a kid, I wanted to write books and I wanted to be a detective. Yeah, I'm always a mixture of things.

"You'll never be worth anything." Those were the words of my abusive stepmother. I won't go into the things she did because I'm not looking to shock or trigger you. Suffice to say I left home at age 14 to escape the abuse. I showed my determination by trying to travel from Utah to Florida. I started by hiking over the Wasatch mountain front. I was caught and sent home but left again and made it from Kaysville to the Colorado state line.

In my fleeing home I was made a ward of the State of Utah and the social worker assigned to me didn't seem to like kids much. "You'll never be a detective. You'll never be anything." She said it in such a matter of fact tone that I didn't say anything back. But my determination only grew.

I was told to give up on writing because I would never publish. But I proved them wrong on all counts. I joined the army and the 186th Military Police. I became professional security, a bodyguard, and eventually, I became a sort of detective. I became an animal cop and investigated things like animal cruelty and animal fighting. I send dozens of cases to court every year. I wrote official tickets with official fines. So I didn't become Sherlock Holmes, but I still achieved a great deal.

Then MS came along. It wasn't first, but it's here now. So I did the next thing that they said I wouldn't do. I published two books. I'm about release the third. Are they perfect? No, but who is? The fact I carried through to the end in my condition should tell you volumes. But to some people it still doesn't. I must just have a look about me that says "don't take this guy seriously". Yet, my track record continues to prove them wrong. And I'm not done.

Here is the thing. Critics will always look down their nose at everything you do. You can show them that your Facebook page has over 750 likes, but they'll go through and count the likes on independent posts and tell you your page isn't worth it. They'll look at your artwork and say that you should give up and go to paying someone else to do it (never mind that there's way simpler art out there that's making millions, just see Cartoon Network ;) ).

I could have listened to them a long time ago and maybe went to some mundane, who knows what, dead end life (I don't know). But I didn't. I didn't listen to them. Look where that got me. I'm here and I've done more than a few things they said I couldn't do. So if there's anything that my project could teach you, it's that you never give up because they say you're going to fail. You may restart, you may reposition, but you don't give up.

So, it's time to show people what you're made of. Show them that you can do it. I'm certainly not done. Why should you be?