Something posted on Facebook this morning reminded me of a saying I heard at the writers conference in Salt Lake City last month.
If you haven't failed, you haven't lived.
That hits home for me especially hard because fear of failure is one of my biggest weaknesses. If I think I may not be good at something then I tend not to try at all.
Oh, and by the way? In the past, failure hasn't only meant not succeeding at a task. It's meant not being the best at that task. Or at least the promise of being the best.
Yeah.
I bet you can begin to imagine just how many new experiences I've never had because it wasn't clear right from the get-go that I was destined to be some sort of savant. (Insert eye roll here.)
The problem with that, outside of being heinously self-centered (Do I really need to be the best at everything? Seriously?), is that I hear over and over that the biggest indicator of success as a writer isn't talent, but doing the work. Actually sitting down and writing.
Not talking about writing.
Not reading about writing.
Not writing about writing.
Although those things are certainly helpful.
It doesn't matter how much promise we have to be the next best writer if we refuse to allow ourselves to fail. If we fail to fail then we have no shot at succeeding.
If we're unwilling to work on our manuscripts because every sentence doesn't shimmer right out of the gate or because our plots have more holes than a box of Krispy Kremes then innate talent's not good for much of anything.
Thomas Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors in history and yet it is said that it took him thousands of tries to get the incandescent lightbulb right. About his work he said, "If I find 10,000 ways something doesn't work, I haven't failed. I'm not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."
As writers we should look at our writing in the same way. We need to aim to fail. Every misstep and subsequent correction is another step forward on the path to becoming stronger, more seasoned writers.
3 comments:
It doesn't matter how much promise we have to be the next best writer if we refuse to allow ourselves to fail. If we fail to fail then we have no shot at succeeding.
Love this line. So true. I'm so grateful for the Nano experience with my book. The 30 day timeline kicked my butt nto gear and showed me that I could do it if, well,I Just Did It (now I'm a Nike commercial)
I thought I'd leave for London with like 3 blog entries on my journal. Turns out, I love babbling away to myself about absolutely nothing. If only I could write a newspaper column called "I really have nothing to say, now listen to this." LOL
That's right, they made a blockbuster out of the concept. It was called Seinfeld--the ultimate show about nothing. Now those writers laugh all the way to the bank. I can just here them now, "Can you believe we get to sit by this pool-side bar thanks to that show?" So keep rolling!
lol hear not here but hey, I know how to write!:-)
Do you plan on continuing your blog when you get back? I think you should. It's always good to keep a journal. Plus, it'll keep those writer juices flowing. I'm still waiting to hear about your next writing project.
Seinfeld is still one of my favs.
Post a Comment