Perseverance
I've been following The Prosperous Writer blog by Christina Katz this year in my drive to be a more effective writer. This week she talks about 'perseverance'. She says,
"Writers who succeed in the long run do not succeed solely because they are talented. They succeed because they have cultivated the art of hanging in there".
J K Rowling faced and overcame many rejection slips before her Harry Potter books found a publisher. Stephen King drove his wife to distraction (and near bankrupcy) while he beavered away at his short stories and novels before finally hitting the big time and becoming the successful, prolific published writer he is today. I have to admire these people for sticking with it and believing in themselves in the face of rejection.
On bad days I beat myself up for not persevering over the distractions of the last two decades but on better days I have to admit that those years have allowed me to hone my skills and build my life experience. I can now write about a mother's feelings for her baby, about loss, about fear, about a million things my younger self could only guess at. My older self also has the patience to keep on with a novel or play which I would have abandoned in my twenties when another idea winged its way into my mind.
If talent is the diamond of our creative endeavours, then perseverance is the heavy pick axe we must wield to find our treasure.
"Writers who succeed in the long run do not succeed solely because they are talented. They succeed because they have cultivated the art of hanging in there".
J K Rowling faced and overcame many rejection slips before her Harry Potter books found a publisher. Stephen King drove his wife to distraction (and near bankrupcy) while he beavered away at his short stories and novels before finally hitting the big time and becoming the successful, prolific published writer he is today. I have to admire these people for sticking with it and believing in themselves in the face of rejection.
On bad days I beat myself up for not persevering over the distractions of the last two decades but on better days I have to admit that those years have allowed me to hone my skills and build my life experience. I can now write about a mother's feelings for her baby, about loss, about fear, about a million things my younger self could only guess at. My older self also has the patience to keep on with a novel or play which I would have abandoned in my twenties when another idea winged its way into my mind.
If talent is the diamond of our creative endeavours, then perseverance is the heavy pick axe we must wield to find our treasure.
I agree completely about sticking to it. I am not a quitter. That is my mantra when the forces of editorial whimsy seem to be battering me. I keep on keeping on.
ReplyDeleteI find that carving out a space IN MY HEAD is as important as having physical space to write.