EVER WANTED TO GIVE UP?

 “Success is that place in the road where preparation and opportunity meet. But too few people recognize it because all too often it comes disguised as hard work.” --Anonymous

As I struggle with my deadline (the book is due May 2, and I have maybe 20% of it written), I thought of the quote above. It's one I found many years ago when I first started writing and liked it so much, I turned it into a counted cross-stitch piece. I just wish I'd put the date on it.

Over the years, I’ve met many writers who want to “have written.” (And this can apply to anything--painting, sculpting, gardening...) You know—they’re in love with the idea of what they want to do, but they don’t want to invest the time in learning the craft or the actual doing. Maybe they're even afraid they'll fail.

We all fail, so please don't let that stop you from doing your heart's desire.

We don’t always see the results we want. For a writer, either the words we put down are not the scene we saw in our head or others don’t recognize the genius in them. For, say, an artist, the image that comes from our brush isn't what we want--It’s easy to get discouraged.

I met a writer once who saved every rejection letter she received, over 10,000. Did it discourage her? Of course. Did she quit? No, she kept writing, and eventually landed an agent who sent her manuscripts out — six by now. One day the agent called and asked if she was sitting down. Christie asked the agent if she’d sold a book, and the agent replied no, and her heart sank. She hadn’t sold A book, she’d sold four! 

How many of us would have kept persevering after that many rejections? And I'm not talking about just writing, but anything you set your heart to do.

That writer was not afraid of failure, and she had perseverance. Here’re a few synonyms for perseverance: persistence, tenacity, doggedness, endurance…you get the picture. Do you have the discipline to hangth thou in there? Can you do what you do for the sheer love of whatever it is and not for money or recognition? 

If not then consider quitting because there will be days where it will be easier to choose to get a root canal than to do what it takes to master what you've chosen to do. 

For me, it's to sit behind a computer trying to coax words to the page. But I can’t not write. There's something on the inside that drives me to torture myself with deadlines and days of writing less than a hundred words. But I persevere. And so you must if you want to feel that satisfaction of a job well done.

Okay, that's enough procrastination for one day. Back to the story that is waiting for me...until next time, Keep On Keeping On!

Is there anything you'd like to do, but fear is holding you back? Leave a comment and I'll enter you in a drawing for one of my books.

See you next month!