Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.

The extraneous duties, in a sense, were the job.

Anyone can deceive us .... for a time.
[KGB]

Comrade, you can deceive us. Anyone can―for a time. But not a very long time.

We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try.