Okay.
I know I have talent, but I'm for sure also wielding my perseverance
(although I hope not in a bludgeon-esque manner).
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Tag Archives: prevail
The Tale of Two Talismans
Once upon a time there was a woman who experienced a ping when she came across the word PREVAIL, and adopted it as her personal motto.
But because she wanted and needed a constant reminder
that she would PREVAIL, she contacted at Silver Freckles.
More than two years went by and the woman wore her beautiful bracelet every day, and it motivated her as she ran and wrote, parented, gardened, and lived her life.
Then one day not too long ago, the woman happened across a wise post from that included this:
” . . . when I sit down to write, I need to do it with actual commitment.
This means a few different things. First, that I need to make the commitment
to sit down and do the work. Second, that when I sit down to do the work,
I need to be willing to really and truly go wherever it is that I need to go for that particular piece.”
Another ping went off in the woman’s head.
So once again, she contacted at Silver Freckles.
And now the woman has two shiny reminders of how she’d like to live her life:
COMMIT to what it is she wants to do and then PREVAIL in her efforts.
So that’s the tale of the two talismans.
And the woman? Well, she’s living happily ever after.
Hey, That’s My Line!
As many of you know,
I am partial to the word PREVAIL.
It is my rallying cry and motto,
my personal talisman.
So it was hard enough discovering PREVAIL
is also a brand of adult underwear.
But now this?!
I have to share my glorious PREVAIL
with these poster boys for All That Is Wrong With This Country?!
(Just to be clear, I’d be equally sickened if it was Obama
or any other enabler of the 1% on the cover).
Ah, well.
PREVAIL means To be or become effective; win out. To succeed. To triumph.
I know what I must do,
and if I begin to lose my way
there’s always a reminder.
Hey, That’s My Line!
As many of you know,
I am partial to the word PREVAIL.
It is my rallying cry and motto,
my personal talisman.
So it was hard enough discovering PREVAIL
is also a brand of adult underwear.
But now this?!
I have to share my glorious PREVAIL
with these poster boys for All That Is Wrong With This Country?!
(Just to be clear, I'd be equally sickened if it was Obama
or any other enabler of the 1% on the cover).
Ah, well.
PREVAIL means To be or become effective; win out. To succeed. To triumph.
I know what I must do,
and if I begin to lose my way
there's always a reminder.
I Can’t Let This Manuscript Die!
This second draft is giving me fits
and I'm suddenly the Queen of Procrastination
as I look for something, anything to do besides revise.
But my project is like this shark:
if I don't keep moving foward
there is a good chance the book will die.
image from morguefile.com
Must. Give. It. Oxygen.
Friday Five: The Determination Edition
1) I am ever so slowly making my way through the second draft of my middle-grade,
2) revising, rewording, reshaping, and re-visioning the story
3) that seemed so straight forward when it whispered in my ear, begging for attention,
4) but for some reason is now taunting me and laughing at my attempts to rein it in.
5) But the joke’s on my feisty muse because I WILL COMPLETE THIS SECOND DRAFT!
image from morguefile.com
May all you also prevail in your wrestling matches, literary or otherwise!
Have a grand weekend!
Friday Five: The Scrivener Edition
In honor of massively computer-challenged Me learning how to use Scrivener for Windows
(writing software adored by oodles of writers), here are some glimpses into my journey:
image from morguefile.com
1) Yesterday I shed tears of frustration and pulled my hair. Literally.
2) Today I teared up a tiny bit when faced with something I absolutely did not understand,
and then wiped away those tears and told myself "You might not even need to know that."
3) My mantra: Even if I master only a tiny percentage of what this program can do,
that tiny percentage will be huge in comparison to what I knew about Scrivener last week.
4) The thought of writing with a "corkboard" and "index cards" has kept me going, and sure enough,
those are the features I’m "mastering" and will be able to use right from the start.
5) I’m sure it doesn’t count for anything but I feel better prepared to learn this software
having read Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener in my sophomore English class.
having read Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener in my sophomore English class.
Anyone else out there have an emotion-laden time learning this software?
(For those who mastered it without a problem, it’s probably best to keep that to yourself.)
On Running and Writing
Zebu and Wildebeest are distance runners on the track team.
They have a teammate who started the season training with the sprinters.
One evening Zebu told me this kid (I’ll call him Whiz), accidentally missed the turnoff
for the sprinters during that day’s practice and instead ran the distance practice (4-5 miles).
With awe in his voice, Zebu said, "He kept up the whole way."
A couple weeks ago, the coach needed to fill some slots because of injuries and
put Whiz into an 800 meter race (two laps around the track which equals one half-mile).
Whiz won his heat.
A few days later, Whiz was on the 4 X 800 relay (each runner does two laps and
then passes a baton to the next runner on team).
The boy passing the baton to Whiz accidentally stepped on the back of Whiz’s shoe and
Whiz spent valuable seconds trying to get the shoe back on his foot before kicking it off
and running his two laps with one shoe on and one shoe off.
Whiz’s time in that race beat Zebu’s best time.
This past weekend, Whiz ran his first 1600 meter race (four laps which equals one mile).
He ran it in 5:11, beating Zebu and Wildebeest’s best times.
Zebu is proud of Whiz, a fellow freshman and super nice kid,
but is also flabbergasted by his ability to run so fast without all the miles
Zebu and Wildebeest have logged in their training.
I can relate.
Not just in my own running, but in my writing life, too.
I told Zebu that there are Naturals and there are Work Horses
(and, of course, Naturals who work very, very hard to get even better).
I told him about the hardworking top-runner on my high school cross country team
who was knocked from her number-one spot by a freshman girl who just showed up
and blew everyone else away.
Then I said, "It’s a lot like the journey to publication. There are some people who write
the perfect book at the perfect time, and their careers take off. Then there are those
who have to work hard for a long, long time to get there. I’m one of those work horses."
His silence told me maybe I shouldn’t have put it in those terms.
Zebu’s had an up-close and sometimes painful window into my quest for publication,
and my unpublished status probably makes me a not-so-good poster child for Work Horses.
It’s true.
I’ve worked long and I’ve worked hard, and publication still hasn’t happened for me.
But whenever I wonder whether it’s time to let go of the dream,
I think about my kids witnessing my efforts over the years.
And while I know hard work is no guarantee of success,
I also know I don’t want them to think of me as The Work Horse Who Never Reached Her Goal.
So I guess that means, at least for the time being, I’ll keep doing what it takes.
I’ll be the Work Horse with one shoe on and one shoe off,
running hard for that finish line.
running hard for that finish line.
Courage
I salute the people of Egypt.
Your courage is inspirational
and your resolve is awe-inspiring.
You did PREVAIL.
Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
