Aspiring writers who read the July 7 edition of The Herald received some inspiration and insight into the writing and publishing process through two stories by staff reporter Emily Hollingsworth.

She wrote about Buckingham resident Susan Carol Kent debuting her first novel and Prince Edward resident Rita Odom Moseley telling the story of the Prince Edward County Public School closings from a child’s perspective through her novel entitled “No School.”

Kent’s book is entitled “Bad Neighbors” and chronicles a mysterious murder in a seemingly quaint town. She shared some details on what it took to get the book made, noting there were publication challenges.

“You have to be persistent and sometimes you have to take a different route,” Kent said. “Today there’s so many outlets for publishing.”

Her message of persistence is so important throughout all steps of the writing process. Moseley illustrated this quality in the course of writing her own novel.

Her education was interrupted by the Prince Edward school closings when she was 12. Later in life, she has earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. She was approved to receive her doctorate but declined, putting a priority on her lifelong passion — writing.

In the course of writing “No School,” Moseley went to the library several times a week to work on it and accepted help from her co-workers in the Prince Edward school system with regard to editing, advice and illustration.

Kent preached the importance of being brave and having a thick skin in the face of possible rejection from publishers while also highlighting the importance of pursuing different avenues to publication. She said self-publishing “Bad Neighbors” allowed her to both send the book out and have ultimate control over its format and presentation.

As Moseley and Kent work to promoting their novels, they are to be commended as successful examples for aspiring writers to follow.

Titus Mohler is sports editor of The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Titus.Mohler@FarmvilleHerald.com.