When I was a kid, I had a book written and illustrated by Wesley Dennis called Flip. It was the story of a young horse named Flip who wants, desperately, to be able to jump a brook; but every time he tries to jump it he fails. He jumps and fails and jumps and fails. And then he falls asleep and dreams that he has a pair of silver wings.
I kept coming back to one particular page in the story, these words:
“One day he jumped so hard and so long
that he tired himself out.
And he fell asleep wishing—“
I would read those words and then I would look at the picture of Flip with wings. I would go back and forth and back and forth between those pages, the words and the pictures.
There was some promise in there that I loved.
All of this is to say that I turned in the rewrite of the novel.
I jumped and failed and jumped and failed. I fell asleep wishing.
And when I woke up this morning, I had an email from my editor saying that the rewrite worked.
And so, for a little while, I will let myself feel the dream of silver wings on my back.

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