Persist and Publish

"I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer
to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'"

~ Saul Bellow

What Is Perfection?

 Marlicia Fernandez (6-26-08)

What is perfection?
An illusion
That fades like the mist
In the heat of the day?
A dream to be grasped
Until reality wake us?
A brass ring at a carnival
Full of promises
That never are attained?

Is it something tangible?
Can it be seen?
Touched?
Smelled?
Like a rose unfolding
On a summer's day
Kissed by the sun
Yet destined to decay?
Is this perfection?
Or is it something unseen?
A quality of being?
An absence?
(that seems so negative)
An abundance, then?
But an abundance of what?
Of beauty?
Of grace?
Of talent?
Is it knowledge that leads to perfection?
Knowledge of self?
Of right and
Of wrong?
Of how to get along?
Is it the discovery that no
matter how hard we try
We will never be perfect?
We can only strive
And in the striving
Achieve
Much more than we conceived
In our limited conceptions
In the effort made
Perfection is attained -
After a fashion
And we progress
Much farther than expected

- Yoda 

I also found this motivators today from Ralph Marston. I thought it was too big of a coincidence to not post here at P&P. Maybe there are others here who will benefit from this message. I know I have.

Kathy 

Trying and doing
"I'm trying to finish that report."
"Let's try to get together."
"I'm going to try to lose weight."
"He's trying to make ends meet."
Trying is not enough. Doing is the only thing that counts. In fact, trying can be worse than doing nothing at all. When you are "trying" to do something, you're under the illusion that you're actually doing something, and so you don't make any effort to do any more.

Trying is action without commitment. You might try today, yet there's no guarantee that it will continue tomorrow. On the other hand, doing something means that you're committed to taking action until you have accomplished it.

So what's the real difference between "trying hard" to do something, and actually doing it? Nothing, and everything. It's all in your attitude. To all outward appearances, trying is the same as doing. The big difference is inside. The big difference is -- how committed are you to getting it done?

Trying wastes a lot of time. When you're not committed to getting it done, you lack focus and effectiveness. Accomplishment comes through doing. When you make the commitment to do whatever it takes, you bring into focus the energy needed to succeed.

"I'm trying to put a book together" or "I'm writing a book." Which book will people be reading soon? 

Trying will get you trials. Doing will get you results. Stop trying. Start doing.
-- Ralph Marston 

And here is another motivator from the same author that I thought applicable as well: 

Bit by bit
"Bit by bit, putting it together...
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art.
Every moment makes a contribution,
Every little detail plays a part.
Having just the vision's no solution,
Everything depends on execution,
Putting it together, that's what counts."
-- Stephen Sondheim, from Sunday In The Park With George
You can have, do, or be whatever you want if you will commit to it consistently. That means doing something every day, every hour, or even every minute, over and over again until your goal is realized.

Little things, done again and again, have enormous power. Picking up the phone and calling prospects, practicing a musical instrument, writing chapter after chapter in a book. Success comes from the consistent application of effort.

The reason that most people are living mediocre lives is that they're just not disciplined to do work consistently. It's easier to take a 2-hour lunch, or skip class, or just find a job where someone else tells you exactly what to do. Initiative and consistent effort require constant commitment.

Imagine that you're leaving for lunch in seven minutes. That's plenty of time to make another phone call. On the other end of that call may be your future best customer. It's easy to rationalize that you don't have enough time to make another call. It's easy to find "busy work" to do for seven minutes -- looking though your mail again, backing up the files on your computer, tidying up your desk, programming your friend's number into your phone. It's easy to let that seven minutes get away from you.

But just killing time won't get you anywhere. Sure it's a little painful to make a few extra calls, to practice a little longer, to work a few more minutes on your proposal. But which pain would you rather have: the small pain of discipline or the enormous pain of regret when you lose the big sale and have to explain to your kids why you can't take them to Disney World?

Get in the habit of doing the little things over and over again. You'll leave the competition in the dust and create a life of excellence.

-- Ralph Marston

For more than twenty-five years Rosemary Daniell has led Zona Rosa®, a creative writing workshop for women (and now men), ranging in age from 16 to 90 and from all walks of life, in Savannah, Georgia.

Rosemary Daniell is known as one of the best writing coaches in the country.  The author of SECRETS OF THE ZONA ROSA:  HOW WRITING (AND SISTERHOOD) CHANGE WOMEN’S LIVES, its prequel, THE WOMAN WHO SPILLED WORDS ALL OVER HERSELF:  WRITING AND LIVING THE ZONA ROSA WAY, she is the founder and leader of Zona Rosa®, a series of writing and living workshops in Savannah, Atlanta, and cities throughout the country, as well as in Europe, as profiled in People and Southern Living magazines.

More information available at:

http://www.myzonarosa.com/

"Fool, said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write."
                  ~ Sir Phillip Sidney

1. Fiction writing takes place in your head, not on the paper.
2. Craft is the art of putting the story in your head into words. This craft can be learned and must be constantly practiced and improved upon.
3. You are in charge! Not the characters, not the plot, not the Muse. You.
4. You’re only human. Take your time. Don’t be in such a hurry. Write it all down. Let it flow. Relax. Don’t work so hard. Have some fun with it.
5. As a novelist you will be writing about conflict and pain. Many times the pain will mirror some pain you’ve experienced in your own life. This is where a writer must be brave and courageous. You have to step into that pain and reduce it to scenes on paper. These scenes will end up being some of your worst writing and some of your best writing. Best advice - keep a box of tissues handy.
6. It’s amazing how much we are influenced by our life experience. I noticed today that I wrote a paragraph where a woman admits to having an affair with a married man in the exact way a friend once talked to me about her affair with a married man. She got divorced for him, but he didn’t get divorced for her. She was pretty bitter. I used her tone. Fortunately for her, her husband really hadn’t wanted the divorce in the first place and they ultimately got back together.
   But she was the only person I’d ever actually talked to who had had an affair with a married man. So I assumed her attitude. And wrote it the way I had heard her say it.
   
7. You hear that writing fiction is a solitary profession. That is simply
   not true. Writers get their ideas from family, friends, the community at
   large... In short, from other people. We borrow (sometimes we outright
   steal) turns of phrases and interesting word usage. We create characters
   based on people we know, people we see, their relationships, their attitudes
   and belief systems. We get story ideas from the newspaper. And we write
   for the reader.

Here's my epiphany (I've been exchanging words counts and writing thoughts
with Bev, so I was bound to have an epiphany of my own sooner or later):
When I feel lost or stuck in what I'm writing, the only way to find my
way back is to keep writing. In the past, I've tended to stop and think
things through, but that doesn't move me forward. If I have a thought,
I've got to try it out on the page. That's where the world-building happens.
Using the stop-and-think approach, it took me two and a half years to write
the first draft of my mystery. Using the charge-ahead approach, I'll have
finished the first draft of this novel in two and a half months. 'Nuff
said.

--Nancy