A few things have hit me recently. A clip of Gary Vaynerchuk (which is always inspiring), a blog post by Nora Roberts (how she writes), Avengers: Endgame (yes, I know it’s just a movie, but still).
Put in the hours. Do the work. Train. Practice. Keep at it.
Everyone of consequence has said this. Everyone who has accomplished any kind of achievement has shown this. We don’t see it in the media, in the highlight reels, at the awards shows. We see the results, but we forget the years of sweat and heartbreak and perserverance it took to become an “overnight” success.
It’s hard, starting something new. In our heads, the idea or image is perfect, but first attempts are ugly. We go from thinking “How hard could it be” to “OMG, why did I ever think I could do this.”
Usually, I’ve quit at that point.
But the people who don’t quit, who double-down on their efforts, are the ones who make it. They learn their craft through practice, then continue to practice their craft.
Ms. Roberts shared in her post, her Three D’s: Discipline, Drive, and Desire. She credits her upbringing and her parents’ examples for teaching her discipline, and she’s seen the value of it, in her life and others.
Discipline to do the work, every week, even if we don’t see immediate results. Even if we can’t see how we’ll reach our goals. Drive to keep going, even when things looks futile. Desire, to have a strong enough Why to pursue in the first place.
Anyways, that’s what’s going through my head today. Do the work, every day. Keep moving, keep pushing.
My desire? To write horror stories that give people courage to fight their own demons, and survive the horrors that life throws at us. And do that full-time.
My current WIP is “To Survive The Wilde”, a story that I have been revising for too long. But I’m putting in the work.
The structure is complete; now to polish the dialogue and descriptions, and then finally to check for mispellings and typos. Stay tuned.
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