"shm shm, do you smell that?"
"smell what?", Jack raised his nostrils in the air trying to catch in on the smell.
He looked puzzled when he couldn't smell anything unsual. "I can't smell anything Faz, don't stress me".
Faz smiled a very broad smile, " it's the smell of cool cash my brother".
Jack tried to force a smile, it was convincing enough but he didn't feel any joy at all.
He could remember discovering he could write at the age of six years, he started writing short stories and basic comic, then one day he picked up a novel at his neighbors dump while he was playing hide and seek with his friends.
He took it home and read through it. The story was a nice one, but when he couldn't quite grasp most of the grammar used, he went to his English teacher who was really fond of him.
Mr Pharrell was very pleased to help the young lad. He taught him to understand some of the words, their pronunciations and how to use them in a sentence. Then, he even went on to get him a dictionary on his birthday and wrote at the first page:
" To...The next best selling author in the world"...❤️ Mr Pharrell
Those words had been quite inspirational, and it actually elevated his mind. He started to read more Agatha christie novels, he'd become close friends with the old man at the library who ended up lending a lot of books.
Gradually, Jack started to improve his writing, and at the age of fifteen he was already writing his own novel. Though most of them were left unfinished and some he couldn't quite afford the money to publish.
After reading a newspaper one day, he realized he could submit some of his works to newspaper editors so they'll be featured in the newspapers. He didn't quite care about the pay at that moment, He just wanted to be seen.
So he went on to meet with some editors, most of whom were quite hostile towards him, "sir, I just need you to read this great story I wrote, I'm pretty sure you'll find it good enough to publish in your newspaper".
"Go away boy, what do you know about writing good stories?!", One frog looking editor replied.
He got rejected, time and time again. The ones who read through his stories actually enjoyed it, but they ended up not publishing it after promising to.
Frustrated, and hopeless, twenty year old Jack had almost given up writing when a certain Mr Worthy met him at the train station and offered to change his life.
"I want you to come work for my editing firm, you'll get a chance to see your works published and you'll get a good pay"...
Jack was over joyed, the opportunity of a lifetime came to him when he least expected. He gladly accepted the offer, he was finally going to see his dreams come through.
At least that's what he thought...
Six years later, here he was staring blankly at Faz who was a great work colleague, his life hadn't changed, non of his works had been published and he's been stuck in an office writing great stories and watching another person take credit for it.
It was saddening, but he had no choice, the pay was good enough to sustain him and atleast his stories were being read by a lot of people but they didn't even know it was him. Mr Worthy had even received awards for best story editor five times in a row and a lot of people loved him, if only they knew.
Jack walked through his staircase tired and uninterested. It had been a stressful week and the work load was getting unbearable. While at the door, something caught his attention. It was a letter that was addressed to him. It must be another rejection again. He picked it up, opened the door and threw it on the table.
After dinner he decided to open the letter, the first few lines read...
Your book "The Mustache Adventure" has been chosen to be published by the New York Goose Editor Firm, find attached, a contract that we'll love you to go through and full details regarding our interest you have you at our firm...
Jack couldn't believe his eyes, this letter had actually been addressed to him?, He could feel hot tears run down his cheeks. He'd waited for this day a long time.
"How does it feel to have your novel tally alongside the likes of Agatha christie and William Shakespeare?"
"I must say it is overwhelming, I've always wanted to be a great writer, I've always wanted to reach out to people with my stories, I never knew this day would come", Jack said as flashlights, cameras and a handful of reporters surrounded him, throwing him questions and showering him with praise.
His novel had won another best seller for the tenth time, he'd made a lot of millions and gotten his books translated every where around the world. What a day to be alive and grow a mustache!!
This is my entry for this week's Edition tagged "Success Story".
Thank you for reading this, if you enjoyed it or it connected to you in a way, I invite you to drop a comment I'll be glad to reply❤️