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Bad weather last week forced us to reschedule a vacation and instead create a "staycation." So one of the things Stephanie and I did was visit the Grotto of the Redemption  in West Bend, Iowa.
Father Paul Dobberstein became critically ill with pneumonia and promised to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary if he recovered. Dobberstein did get better and began construction in 1912. And he worked on the grotto, year-round, until he died in 1954.
He could have picked a more traditional way to celebrate God. There's no doubt that some people thought he was crazy during those 42 years. But his calling was to create this massive, beautiful work of stone. He followed his passion.
I think that sometimes we, as authors, worry too much about whether our books "fit the market" or are commercial enough, when in fact we should be asking: What's the story I want to tell? What's my passion?
P.S.: Never stop writing. A.E. Hotchner, for example, just published his latest at 101 (or maybe 98). So never quit and never give up.
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