Don't cower in the background

From early 20th-century Chicago come some words of advice that are just as relevant to writers as to the artists they were originally aimed at. They appeared in a pamphlet advertising Dorothy D. Deene's correspondence course in Commercial Art in around 1908.

Deene, who shot to fame as a runner-up in the Chicago Tribune's 'Most Beautiful Girl in Chicago' competition, had an art studio in East 41^st Street in the first decade of the 20^th century. She subsequently began selling her own blend of herbal 'Complexion Tea', said to remove wrinkles, brighten the spirits and get the bowels moving regularly.

• Fear to attempt something new is the rock that causes wreckage of most human careers.

• Half-hearted endeavour at something you don't like to do, causes the discord that spoils any life.

• If you are in a rut, don't waste hours blaming your environment. Improve moments in getting out of it.

• Be in harmony with your every day task. You can't be worthy of your work if your work isn't worthy of you.

• Putting off from one day to the next is a pernicious habit. It makes the years sum up badly.

• Be in tune with the best there is in you, and play up to it.

• The words that spoil the success of lives most often are “I can't” and “I'm afraid to try.”

• A good profession will prove your best friend – better to lean upon than your truest friend or relative.

• There are dormant powers of adaptability and resource in each one of us; wake them up.

• What if you haven't had experience? You have not yet tested your efficiency.

• What if you do fear defeat? Fear destroys initiative, and without initiative nothing is accomplished.

• Don't cower in the background. Make your life stand out.

• To ambition, brains and energy, success will surely make its bow.