"I" is for Inner Strength

Inner strength is required to do anything outside of your comfort zone. It is required to persist when you don't initially succeed. And it is required to break through barriers and overcome obstacles standing between you and your required outcome.

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.
-Oprah Winfrey

The publishing industry, like the other entertainment industries, is not for the weak. There are so many people trying to break in, so much networking, so subjective, and so many timing/place/luck factors that it feels like there is a thousand-foot brick wall directly past the gate. Then you have to figure out how to get to the other side. Climb? Tunnel? Barrel through? And by the grace of God you make it only to find another wall on the other side. How many more are there? It's impossible to tell. There is a different number of walls for each person. It's daunting and uncertain, and that's where inner strength truly comes in.

You can worry about how many walls you have left or you can focus on conquering the wall directly in front of you. One wall at a time. That is where I choose to focus my attention. If I can climb over one wall, then I can climb over them all. Throw me another one; I have the strength, stamina, and stubbornness to climb it! 

Strength does not come from winning.
Your struggles develop your strengths.
When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender,
that is strength.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger