Barbara J Ehrentreu

I would say persistence. I know that is the key to doing anything - not giving up. Just being persistent. Telling yourself that you have something to offer. Doing it well. Making sure that you are doing the best you can with what you have, and then showing it to the world. That's what I do. I do the best editing I can, I do the best writing I can, I take suggestions. And sometimes it's not easy to take suggestions, and I practiced in making myself open to suggestions, and meeting as many people as you can who will help your career. Always be trying to help your career in any way you can, but in a way that helps you, you know, by partnering with people who can help you. When I first wrote my book in 2011, I got a lot of rejections. I think I got 11 rejections. And I just kept going and going, and finally I found somebody who wanted to publish it.

I was told never to stop trying to publish my work. Ignore rejections and keep going. I was also told to keep my rejections. And when you get a rejection you should go back and revise your work.

For someone who's young and new, I would say just write. Just start. If you have an idea, just write it. Also, make sure that you have a foundation of knowing about writing. Before I started my book, I was going for my Master's in reading and writing, and I do have that. And so, I took a lot of writing courses. Writing is not just sitting down and writing. Writing is a whole process, and the writing process helps you very much as an author, because then you don't get as frustrated, because you know, well, I just have to write a first draft. And I just have to look at that first draft and see if it needs to be revised, and so you know the process, and you don't get upset or think, oh, I can just write something and out it will go. It's not writing. Writing - you may just write your first draft and, you know, think, oh, well, that's it. No. That has to be looked at by at least 2 to 4 to 8 people. It has to be revised, because you may not have written what you thought you were going to write. And then you have to know the publishing process as well, because it won't just be published. It needs to go and be edited, and you need to also have a publisher and find the publisher, which is not easy. So I would say to a young woman just joining out that it's important to have your idea of what you want to write, to sit down and write it, but to know the writing process, and to be aware that it's not going to be that easy, you know?

I feel the biggest challenge is Ai. Many people are using it to check their work. It is definitely available to anyone to use it. Also, there are lots of editorial services out there. I know that my editing is excellent and has won many awards for the work I have edited.

The most important value in my work and my life is integrity. When you say you will do something you do it or have a very good reason why not. This also includes the idea of truth in all interactions. These two values, integrity and truth go hand in hand. Both are equal in my mind.

The other value is respect in all aspects of our dealings. This is another part of integrity. In both business and personal life this is very important to me.