Hi, I’m Maria, and I’m the writer behind The Pertinacity.

You’ve probably heard the advice, “write what you know.” If there’s one thing I know, it’s the need for growing one’s pertinacity when trying to have a career as a writer. 

When I was twelve, I wrote in my diary, “Most of all, I want to be a writer.” But it was a long slog between that scribbled wish and first seeing my name in print. Decades’ worth. It took a lot of learning and trying and failing and learning some more.

Along the way, one of the ways I kept myself going was to study the careers of the writers I loved and admired. Sometimes, after what felt like a particularly brutal rejection, I went online to find the one-star rejections of the books I loved best of all. (Guaranteed they all have at least one). It helped me learn that it can be hard to predict success in the moment, and that if our favorite writers had let rejection stop them, we wouldn’t have some of the books we most cherish today.

My own literary story has a happy “ending” (is a story every really ended, while we’ve got breath in our bodies?). I have novels out from major publishers and pieces in magazines I would have only dreamed of seeing my name in when I was a kid. But no matter where you are in your career, rejection and doubt are always part of it. That’s where the idea for The Pertinacity came to me… writing the advice and the encouragement I needed myself.

You can learn more about my own work at my personal website: MariaEAndreu.com. Thanks for checking out this passion project, and if you like it, please tell a friend!