Never Give Up Keep Writing — Part II
Just within the last few months, my cynicism nearly did me in. Even as recent as this summer, I felt ready to throw my first novel’s manuscript into the trash can. But I didn’t. I kept on going. #KeepWriting #NeverGiveUp Click to Tweet
I’d heard the “Keep Writing” mantra for several years now, always from someone who was telling me I wasn’t good enough to get published. Maybe it wasn’t me who wasn’t good enough, maybe it was “Meghan’s Choice” but honestly, to a novelist, their novel is their “baby” and it hurts to not have the “baby” accepted.
It got so that whenever I heard “Keep Writing” I’d slough it off, because it became a trite way to “comfort” me. I wanted to sock ’em in the nose if they said “Never give up.”
But what they actually meant was — persevere, keep moving forward, don’t get stuck. We’re an “instant” society, instant gratification, instant food, instant communication, instant everything. We’ve forgotten how to wait. We’ve forgotten how to keep pursuing the goal when we hit roadblocks.
And the older I get, the more cynical I become when something doesn’t work out. I’ve not talked about my greatest “failure.” It was nine years ago at the end of October 2006. I was attempting to become a certified teacher of a certain ministry’s courses, and some “character” issues got in the way, and I failed.
And with writing, I’ve tried all kinds of writing, broadcast and print journalism, marketing and public relations writing, and I tried non-fiction books on several different subjects. Couldn’t keep at it for long because of failure…failure to keep the job, failure to find acceptance from a publisher — each time I failed, I would change direction. I needed to make a living, and when writing wouldn’t do it for me, I had to find a job that would.
Now, I’m older. I don’t know how much wiser I am, but I hope I’ve learned something about perseverance. I think I have. You can check out my posts about Israel on this blog. I had to persevere every day with a broken wrist in a plaster cast. Then, I got home and had surgery to repair it. Then, I had to work at getting it strong and mobile again. It took working at it every day, once physical therapy started to get about 85-90 percent back. They said it could take a year, and it did. It is all the way back now. But a year ago June, I was just happy to be able to type two-handed again, and play the piano.
What about you? Have you learned perseverance? How? What have you overcome? #KeepWriting #NeverGiveUp Click to Tweet
Leave a comment and let me know.
Donna L.H. Smith 