The quote on today's poster can relate to just about any part of our life, but let's look at what it says to writers. The chances and decisions part fit the writer quite well.
Whether you're a newbie writer, a hobby writer or a professional, there have surely been times that you didn't take a chance when you could have. That old monster, Fear, steps in and leers at us and we pull back.
But what if you, as a newbie, had gone ahead and signed up for that class on writing? What if you had found the courage to submit to a name magazine? What if you had forged ahead and attended the writer's conference last year? You don't know for sure what might have happened, but it's possible that some good may have come from whatever chance you had and passed up. When the next one comes up, take it. You'll have no regrets that you missed out.
Even the already-published writer sometimes passes up chances that appear. Maybe you wanted to submit a story to a highly-renowned literary contest but that other monster, Lack of Confidence, stepped in front of you and you held back. If you don't enter, you don't know if you can win a contest. You don't know if an editor will turn you down if you don't send your work. Take a chance. What's the worst that can happen? The editor can say No. That's not the end of the world. Maybe some other editor will accept the same piece later on.
As for the decisions, if we wait too long the opportunity may have disappeared. We don't want to make decisions with too much haste, but we also shouldn't take forever agonizing over them. Look at the situation from all sides and then act, or not, whatever way you decide to go.
Nancy those monsters you mention, and more, have haunted me all my life. I'm sure they've kept me from being everything I could be, and they're still with me. Even today, I always feel I'm not good enough, not as good as other writers, don't have the educational background others have, etc. I rarely ever submit anything to other writing venues, and when I do, I just "know" I'm not going to hear anything back from them. These are the ugly monsters I fight every day, and they even kept me from writing on Squidoo for a very long time. So the battle goes on every day..... Thanks for your encouragement, as always!
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, in my experience, that whatever chance I dared to take, I always learned something, even if it was not to do it again. So really, you can't lose (I keep telling myself)!
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