When it feels hopeless

“Especially in a time of terrible fear and sorrow and vitriol, stories remind us of who we are and of how we belong to one another.” (Margaret Renkl, New York Times, Opinion Essay, October 8, 2025).

When the Southern Festival of Books* lost its funding, Ann Patchett decided to go to the writing and reading community to save it. Turns out, it was just the thing to do. A small request of twenty dollars went out to supporters, and the community rallied to the cause, an affirmation of how much we love stories.

I needed to hear about that success, because lately I have questioned if my writing matters.

I have 4 children’s magazine articles published, but no book. I have several polished manuscripts, but no agent. I just entered my eighth decade of life, so my window of opportunity is shrinking. And yet, I relish my time at the computer when I can create and fantasize and research.

Some days, I look out my reality window at the world and it seems life as I knew it is burning to the ground. I’m sitting in my basement office trying to figure out the dialogue between a chipmunk and a groundhog, and my country is falling apart. While I’m playing with point of view in my story, humanitarian crises are unfolding.

What’s the point, I ask myself- who will care about a humorous tumbleweed story? Am I avoiding reality? Maybe I should just doom scroll for the day or watch movie trailers. Can the world be worse off?

Maybe not, but I certainly would be.

Writing has become my passion, my purpose, and my guidepost to becoming a better human being. I have found a community of the kindest, most supportive people- people who write for children. And I have learned so much about myself. And I have grown, not only in my craft, but as a person.

If writers like me keep putting out hopeful, entertaining and positive stories for kids to cozy up and read, books that reflect their lives, and books that take them to new places… maybe that’s where the hope lives. How lucky am I to be one of the people trying to hold a torch in the darkness!

I won’t give up writing, although I still have days when the doubt creeps in. I just need to remind myself that too many kids are waiting for a good book.

*The 37th annual Southern Festival of Books will be held in Nashville Oct. 18-19. As always, it is free and open to the public.