“One yes can wipe out a thousand no’s,” according to syndicated columnist Ronda Rich, and she has some true stories to back up the saying.
Rich, whose column appears on Sundays in the Enterprise-Journal, spoke to the McComb Rotary Club on Wednesday.
A resident of Georgia, she’s a former sports writer and NASCAR publicist who has authored several best- selling books, one of which — “The Town that Came A-Courtin’”— is about a town in search of a wife for its mayor. She said that book received a long series of no’s before being accepted by a publisher, and then it was made into a television movie.
Other books she has written include “My Life in the Pits,” based on her NASCAR experiences and a series on “What Southern Women Know.”
One of her books, “There’s a Better Day A-Comin’,” tells stories about people facing adversity but refused to give up.
She gave as an illustration of not giving up a true story about NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip fulfilling his boyhood dream of winning the Daytona 500 against overwhelming odds by stretching his car’s gas mileage beyond normal limits.
“Sometimes a great story finds you, and you just have to tell it,” Rich said, reflecting on her career as a columnist and writer.
Also at Rotary on Wednesday was Lt. Trish Arguello of the local Salvation Army. She was promoting a fund-raising luncheon to be held on the sixth floor of Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center Aug. 28. Gov. Phil Bryant will be the speaker. Tickets are on sale for $50.
