Persistance

We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. —Marcel Proust

Last summer, in the space between cement wall and driveway the heart-shaped leaves gained hold and clung to the sun-warmed wall. By the end of July, the deep purple blooms opened to dawn, unfurling a color that never failed to pierce my heart. I watched all summer the morning glory’s struggle against the odds-sun, heat-trampling feet, my husband’s weed patrol, my own.
I never could bring myself to pull the plant or use weed killer. It seemed we had so much in common. That morning glory and I.

Trouble, interruptions, and life changes come to all of us. When it does it can bring your writing to a screeching halt. Adversity is going to happen. It’s just plain inevitable. Some something comes along and takes the wind from your sail. Something as simple as a flat tire, stopped up toilet or as bad as a sick child or a family tragedy. Things come along that throw your writing schedule to the four winds.

Those troubles, interruptions, that stress or life change is the stuff our lives are made up of. In a way, they are our blessings. What can you do about it?

The only thing to do is expect trouble, interruptions—life, in other words. Expect life. Make plans to deal with the problems you can control and realize, really know that sometimes life is going to take precedence over your writing. Be prepared for the stress. Embrace it. Take tablet and pen with you, note things during the handling of each problem. Don’t be embarrassed to do this. For all anyone knows you’re taking notes for dealing. And you are, plus you are writing. Don’t feel guilty about that either, because that is the nature of a writer is.

And remember, too, misfortune, adversity, they help us grow, give us experience, and a writer needs all of that.

So turn adversity, interruptions, misfortune into positives as best you can. Think about how you can use each for you instead of against you. Take the experience; note the feel, the color, the setting, the emotions—anything. You will use it someday in your writing. Guaranteed.
Attack challenges head on. This will prepare you to meet the next challenge better and your writing better. Writing is a challenge and it is easy to slump down and say to yourself, “This article, this poem, this story is hard to write. I’ll do something easier.”

Writing is hard. It’s supposed to be.

Published authors, every one, have met these same challenges, dealt with them and gone on writing. Despite everything. They’ve had stopped up toilets, jobs, aging parents, young children and writer’s block.

Bill Phillips said, those of us who go on, who have the courage to continue and to succeed in spite of adversity, become an inspiration.

Become an inspiration.