Living up to 'an inner image of yourself'

 

“Integrityis not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with theweather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see aman who won't cheat, then you know he never will.” – JohnD. MacDonald

Born on this date in 1916, crime/suspense novelist and short story writerMacDonald achieved the highest accolade in his genre, Grandmaster from theMystery Writers of America shortly before his death in 1986.   A self-proclaimed “accidental writer,” healso was the winner of a National Book Award and is perhaps best known for hispopular, critically acclaimed TravisMcGee series. 

 

MacDonald began writing in 1945while in the Army.  Waiting in thePacific for his ship home, he wrote a short story and mailed it to his wifeDorothy.  She loved it and submitted itto Esquire – which promptly rejected it. So, she sent it to Story magazine, which accepted it for $25,pretty good pay for the time.

 

MacDonald decided to give writing afurther try and after hundreds of rejection slips he finally got an acceptancefrom Dime Detective, which paidhim $40. Ultimately, he would sell more than 500 stories to detective,mystery and adventure magazines.                       

 

His 1957 novel The Executionersput him on the writing map, selling continuously ever since and being the basisof two successful movies.   His characterMcGee’s first appearance was in The Deep Blue Good-bye, starting a runof 21 bestsellers featuring him and with each title in the series including acolor.   

 

“Every day, no matter how you fightit, you learn a little more about yourself,” MacDonald had his charactersay.  “And all most of it does is teach ushumility.” 

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