Hard

A bull rider, a mere five-foot-ten, 160 pound cowboy looks at a 2000 pound animal and says, “I’m going to ride this bull and I’m going to do it for 8 seconds. And while I’m at it I’m going to do it over and over until I win the championship.” And he cowboy’s up. ( a cowboy’s way of saying, just do it.)

Spectators say he has try. To cowboys “try” is a combination of skill, determination, concentration and courage.

A drummer for a rock band loses an arm and determines to play his drums again—better than before. An award winning surfer girl loses an arm to a shark and has the courage to surf again. A biker comes back from the fight for his life against testicular cancer determined to win one of the most grueling races, the Tour de France, not once but six times, then tries again!

A successful actor breaks his neck and tells us, “Giving up is NOT an option.” And not only did he not give up, he fought to walk again, to have hope and give hope to others. (Oh and by the way I’ll change things.) He fought to change the way spinal injuries were looked at and treated.

What has this to do with writing? Only this. Writing is hard. We hear it from those giving us writing advice. We hear it from struggling writers. We say it ourselves. We say it when faced with the blank screen, when receiving harsh rejections, when suffering from a cement wall of writer’s block. Writing is hard. A person has to be nuts to do it. There is so much struggle. Coming up with ideas, interruptions, day jobs, discouragement, rejections, just getting your butt in the chair and staying there.

Writing is hard and to make a living at it is even harder, that is, if(and that is a big if) you ever get published.

All hard.

Hard…

The hardihood of Bethany Hamilton thinking she would surf again. (Let alone get back in the water.)

Rick Allen, drummer for Def Leppard, playing drums again. (And his band saying, OK, We can do that and be better than ever. Someone having faith in you does make hard easier, doesn't it?)

I think of the sheer audacity of Christopher Reeve. Think of it. He didn’t strike me as a man who would have made such a statement without knowing full well what he was up against. He knew it was going to be hard, just NOT giving up, let alone marching forward on a crusade with flags flying and trumpets blaring.

He knew every step of his journey would be hard won.

Every step. Breathing, working, optimism, advocacy, pushing research forward, having and giving hope probably the hardest of all.

Hard.

It would be.

It was.

He did NOT give up. Never. Not even when a hand reached down for him. I believe angels need skill, determination, concentration and courage.

Same for Bethany Hamilton, once she realized her arm was gone, once she knew she would live. She had to face her future and where surfing would be in it. It would be hard to even try to surf again. Adjustments would have to be made and some, many would say it was impossible. And...if she failed. That would be hard.

But really, just hard.

She loved surfing. Lived for it.

So, hard, it would be.

And hard, it was.

Rick Allen had to know it was going to be hard learning to use the drums again. It meant special equipment, translating what he knew to a different way of playing and expressing himself. It meant a lot of work and dedication.

I think of Reeve’s words often when I hear a writer say how hard the writing is. You see, “Giving up is NOT an option.” implies choice. Options. And it is just that. A choice. Once the choice is made the rest is just follow through.

I hear it all the time. I’ve said it, plenty. Writing is hard. It’s suppose to be. Writing is work. Our chosen work. Work should be…just that. Work. Hard. If it was easy the words that move us…wouldn’t. Hard is a rock tumbler polishing the stones of greatness.

You have a choice: to write or not to write. That’s all. A choice. The hard comes with it when you choose to write.

But from hard comes gems, comes precious, comes angels.

Discouragement-Remember the wisdom of H. Joseph Chadwick: If Columbus had given up and turned back when the going got tough, no one would have blamed him. No one would have remembered him either.