Journalist, author, screenwriter, copywriter . . .

I set out to be a poet. A long time ago. Before making a living was more than just having a job. I wrote a lot of poems, most of them mediocre at best. Then I wrote some essays, discovering in the process how much I liked prose. That opened the door to a career that 30 years down the line includes more than 1,500 magazine and newspaper articles, a dozen books, numerous screenplays and teleplays, and reams of marketing and communications copy.

None of this was supposed to happen, at least according to the naysayers who told me no one makes a living as a writer. I'm here to tell you that some people do and I've been fortunate enough to be one of them.

The next time someone tells you something can't be done, accept the challenge. It may not make you rich, but it might just make you happy. At the very least it will teach you the value of listening to that little voice inside you.