“Take a leap of faith” is what Mickey Rapkin, keyote speaker at the Horace Greeley Writers’ Conference told the group on Saturday!
Having a job as Senior Editor of GQ Magazine was prestigious, but did not totally fulfill his dream as a successful writer.
Mickey, who is from New York City, graduated cum laude from Cornell in 2000. His work has appeared in The New York Post, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times and many other publications. When he decided to take that leap, Rapkin left his prestigious job at GQ and started freelancing, always wondering whether he was good enough. He told the group that when you write, “you and the page become alive, and if you stick with it, you can be a writer if you really want to be.” Although he had published two books, sales were way down. Now he wasn’t sure what would happen to his life without his GQ job….
He then recalled singing at Cornell, and it was then he realized there is a story behind each one of these kids”. Then the fright came … how to write the book? He did succeed and published “Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate Acapella Glory”
Later, he discovered a summer theatre company “Stage Door Manor” and wondered what life would have been like if he had gone to this week camp in the Adorandacks. He soon found himself at the front door of the camp and discovered a group of kids just bursting to tell their stories of what their lives were all about. He interviewed them, and then wrote about three kids and their summer at the camp. Soon after, Mickey’s next book was published titled “Theatre Geek”.
So the story goes. However, now without a job, Mickey was still unsure of his future. However his leap has now turned into something so exciting for him….Mickey has just sold movie rights to his book “Pitch Perfect” , and the movie is being shot in Louisiana! The moral of the story….. follow your dream and never give up!
