Never give up

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

For as long as I can remember, my dad, the Toddford, has wanted to publish his book. He had his entire manuscript typed up on our first computer, the Tandy 1000, only to have the thing crash and lose all his work.

My dad always had “the book” in his head, though, so there really was no forgetting the main idea.

Life went on, and my brother was very sick, so, along with coaching and teaching, my dad went all in to keep Coby and our family going.

He never forgot the book though, and in 2016, while still coaching and after the loss of my brother, Dad got to work putting the pen to paper.

In December of 2019, just before the world shut down, the Toddford retired after forty years of coaching and teaching. He went to Florida, where I was living, and saved my life (another book all in itself, The Waiting Room by Anonymous Gent – plug!!).

Dad would read what he had handwritten in spiral notebooks, and I typed it up on my brother’s Dell laptop. After years of never giving up on his goal, his dream really, the Toddford was able to write and publish his book, Hold Your Breath…Breathe.

Based on a kid graduating in the late 1960s, Hold Your Breath…Breathe is a coming-of-age tale with the main character moving from a small farm town to the big city and losing the green from behind his ears very quickly.

“Let’s get through this day, no matter what they do to us!” Toddford always says. Just like my dad, the main character in his book uses humor to get through all the trials of life and remains positive in all situations.

The Toddford never quit on his dream, and it proved how one should never give up.

Get lost in a great story by Todd Michael Gent, and check out Hold Your Breath…Breathe, available on Amazon. Link on our page.