complacency

{photo: guzer.com}

 We all do it. Some more often than others (guilty party here!) Lose our edge, our drive. Become content. Being content (aka “at peace”) is a beautiful thing. In certain circles.

But, if you are a writer, trying to become a published author, there are others out there who want it more than you. They are hungry and it shows. In tightly written prose, painfully descriptive scenes, pop-off-the-page characters. Their words linger in your mind, settle on your heart and resonate long after “The End.” Don’t you want that for your own career?

Be at peace with your soul, but never stop at “good enough” in your writing. Or your readers will stop reading…

“You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life.”    James G. Bilkey, Author

 

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Help for Hump Day – Don’t Quit

While ironing the other night I overheard a TV interview highlight with Former President Bill Clinton as he said: “When you get knocked down, don’t give up, Get UP!”

Now, you have to understand I despise ironing. Seriously. My clothes have to be balled up and riddled with semi-permanent creases to warrant me getting out the big ol’ ironing board and setting it up in my living room. Distractions in the form of TV is what gets me through this task. Any mundane show or even monotonous commercial will do. But when I heard Bill Clinton’s quote, I felt a kinship, a glow of enlightenment, which definitely made my ironing chore a pleasurable and philosophical moment. And got me thinking about my own family’s motto: NEVER GIVE UP!

My husband and I have ingrained this mentality in our boys. When learning to ride a two-wheeler: Never Give UP! When struggling with a homework assignment: Never Give Up! When trying to make first chair as the snare drummer for band: Never Give UP!

Although, it’s more than a phrase, but a lifestyle. If we tell ourselves “I can’t,” than, guess what? You won’t! Words without action is fruitless. The belief has to be there, but you also must take little steps to move forward, to have momentum on your life’s path.

So, after you’ve chanted with me:

Never Give UP!

Never Give UP!

Never Give UP!

Get to work. What are you working on today? Me? Reading and revising Chapter 4 of my novel. Little step, but still moving forward.

Don’t Quit

 

When things go wrong as they sometimes will.

When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill.

When funds are low and the debts are high.

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.

When care is pressing you down a bit.

Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns.

As everyone of us sometimes learns.

And many a failure turns about.

When he might have won had he stuck it out:

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are.

It may be near when it seems so far:

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

~Author Unknown

”I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days, or great days.”-Lance Armstrong

Sobering words coming from a cancer survivior, right?

I try my best to be positive, but sometimes things just pile up all in one day and blast me right in the ego.  Friday, I received a rejection on an essay I was very proud of. But there were other things going on that day in my personal life and day job, that made that rejection more of a sting.

I had to go shoe shopping to recover!

But it’s a new day, and with it a new attitude. So, I look at it this way: I have a great personal essay ready to pitch to another market and two new pairs of adorable boots (to help me walk tall and confident.)

What are you trying to get past today?