Please meet my friend and author Bethany Hegedus.

In terms of time, Bethany and I  haven’t known each other very long but writers go deep with one another very quickly. When we share our work, especially first drafts, we offer up our most vulnerable parts for critique. There is no better person to share such places with than Bethany. She understands encouragement and kindness as much as she understands plot, voice and character development. She understands that being a good writer is part and parcel of being a good person. She understands what a writer is capable of and is there to cheer as much as push. Small wonder that the quote which sustains her as a person also buoys her up as a writer.

“My favorite quote is one I use to handle rejection.  It comes from the poem The Well Dressed Man With A Beard by Wallace Stevens:

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.

“I love the line because it reminds me that there can be many nos–in life, in love, in the pursuit of a dream but eventually given time, space, determination–a final no comes. The naysayers stop and when that triumphant “yes” is heard–it shifts things. I believe a miracle is as Marianne Williamson defines it–“a shift in perception.” That is what hearing that yes is. A miracle. A feat. A blessing. We hear many more no’s in this world but we must tell ourselves yes before we ever hear one back from the world. This quote keeps me believing. Believing in art, in miracles, and even in myself.”

If you would like to read the entire poem by Wallace Stevens, please go here.

Bethany is the author of two outstanding middle grade novels, Between Us Baxters and Truth with a Capital T.  Her blog feature interviews with authors all over the world.