Bye bye '09, Welcome '10

The year has started, it's already five days in and I am falling off track. What am I doing with my writing? I've started rewriting my novel in progress and the process feels like swimming through thick mud. Every word is so difficult. There are still scenes that need to be reworked, added and deleted to make it work. During some moments it's rather depressing but I must persist. Persistence is the only key to success. Along with continuous education. Continuous education in many fields. Especially with writing, continuously writing in order to make rapid improvements.
I would like to say that persistence always pays off in the way that we want it to. Unfortunately that's not always the case. Usually but not always. Success comes from hard work and persistence, combined with talent and luck. All four are required in order to achieve. However, even hard work, persistence, talent and luck may not be enough on their own. At first it may seem like a lost cause, but eventually it does happen. In one way or another the hard work and persistence pays off. At least that's the way I see it. The people who say they fail are usually the ones that have given up without giving it an adequate go. Over the past two years there have been many times when I thought about giving up. I'm glad I didn't. I'm going to persist until I get to where I want to be and beyond.

2009 has finished. Last year was a tricky year for many people. It was a difficult year. One that many will want to forget and move on from. It is also a year that taught many lessons to many people, including me. Lessons in love, life and finance. Lessons in friendship, trust and education. Last year I spent too much money, didn't laugh enough, didn't learn enough, went out to little, spend too few moments with my family and friends, wasn't thankful enough, and didn't bite my tongue and keep my mouth shut often enough, nor did I write as much as I wanted to or was as active as I hoped to be. All my fault of course.

2010 is a year I hope to do the right thing, whatever that is. My goal is to be a better writer, friend, partner, daughter, teacher, athlete, person. I'm not sure how that's all going to work. I do know that it's not going to be smooth sailing. There will be difficult moments but there will also be moments I won't want to forget which will push me past the tough times and get me through it all.

What do you want from yourself in 2010?

Evaluating Ourselves

Once again it's grey outside. The sky grows darker with every minute and at about 5pm it's going to be nightfall. While it isn't as cold as usual for November, about five to ten degrees throughout the day, it's been a wet month so far, and I can't remember when I last saw some sunshine. Two weeks ago, maybe three. The only thing worth doing when it's like this is snuggling under a warm blanket with a good book and a hot cup of tea. Sounds lovely, if there wasn't so much work to do.

Yesterday's post left me thinking about a lot of things in my life. This morning I stumbled upon an interesting post from Scott H Young about failure and success (www.scotthyoung.com/blog). He talks about rushing for our goal, but not being patient enough to get a taste of success. While we underestimate what we are capable of achieving, when it comes to time frames we're always rushing and wanting immediate results. We want everything right now. It's like that with money. It's like that with success. We want it all at electrifying speed. That's how I've always wanted things to happen too.

I've been writing since I was a little girl. I recall writing short stories at school, a small illustrated children's book at age ten. Poetry later in primary school, and lots of journal writing. At about twelve or thirteen I began writing longer stories, then I attempted numerous novels which ended up in the trash can. I wanted success quickly. I wanted it right away. What I didn't realise though was that I could be a writer. Even when people didn't take my dream seriously, I knew that it was possible. What I didn't know was how long it was going to take me.

Sixteen years later I am still writing. My apprenticeship continues. I have learnt a lot but there's still so much that I must learn. Only two years ago did I build up the courage to send my writing out to magazines. And guess what? I got published. Not right away. Not always paid. But I got published. My only regret is that I didn't start out sooner. That I was afraid of showing anyone my writing. I suppose this blog is also helping me over come that fear. That's why it's important to follow your dreams, work hard towards success and don't just think about the end result, enjoy the progress and sooner or alter success will follow.

It's still grey outside but I'm inside doing what I love doing most. Creating stories, coming up with article ideas and writing away. It takes time but it does happen. It's one step closer to making a living as a writer.