I began to write By Any Means in 1998. Originally, I had titled it “Time to Say Goodbye”, then after a year or two, I changed the title to “Our Story”. I first sent the manuscript to a publisher in 2002. The publisher didn’t even bother to send me a rejection letter. The next year, I sent it to a whole list of publishers, and again, none of them bothered to respond. I decided to re-write and the next year, I sent it off again. This time, I believe I received one rejection letter. It was devastating and I decided I would stop trying…but a year later, I rewrote and sent it off once more. From 1998 until 2013, fifteen years, it has been writing, rejection, re-writing, re-rejection, re-re-writing, re-re-rejection and so on, until Human and Rousseau accepted my manuscript, by then titled By Any Means. A dream come true. Many people have asked me how and why I continued to persevere for fifteen years, after being rejected so many times. I tell them, that each rejection was not a hindrance, but a blessing. If I compare the manuscript now, to what it was when I first sent it out, it is much, much better. I cringe now when I look at the earlier work. The fifteen years of rejection gave me a chance to refine my writing and my story. To mature as a person and as an author. The book and I simply were not ready then, and these fifteen years of rejection gave me fifteen years to improve. To get better. Besides, anything worth having is worth fighting for. If I had given up after the first rejection letter, then I could not have wanted it that badly after all.