Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. – Walter Elliot
Back in 2008 when I started this blog, One Writer’s Journal, I gathered quotes to share on the middle of the week post. Later I started doing two full posts each week and have kept it up for all these years. This post is my 1,656th. That’s a lot of words thrown out on the internet to see if they can find a reader.
At times I thought my words might have slid out of sight in the great internet river with barely a ripple, but I persisted. Each week I wrote more posts. For a while I did three a week when I was posting for Jocie in the Heart of Hollyhill posts. I still do a Jocie post now and again. I shared one from her earlier this week, but I’m not as diligent about those posts as I once was. I am still diligent about sharing words here.
I have sometimes been asked what’s the most important trait for a writer to have. I always say perseverance. Keeping on keeping on even when it does seem as if nothing is working. To write a book you have to begin and write more each day for months (or at least it takes me months) before you get to the end of your story. To finish, you can’t give up when the words stop flowing as easily. You have to push through one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one chapter at a time. Even if it’s a word or sentence that will eventually be edited out. It gets you moving on toward the end.
Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. –Babe Ruth (1895-1948), baseball legend
Sometimes discouragement can sit down beside you as you’re writing or as you’re doing anything that is hard or that doesn’t seem to be working. So here are a few quotes to encourage you when discouragement comes calling, and it generally does as some time or other for all of us. That can make us wonder if we should keep trying to follow our dreams, if success is out there anywhere. So here’s some encouragement to believe that yes, we should keep on.
“Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise.” ..Henry Willard Austin (1858-1912)
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.” …Calvin Coolidge
Let me tell you the secret that has led to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. –Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), scientist and inventor of the pasteurization process
So may the Lord bless you as you persevere and persist this week and the next week and the week after that and, well, you get the idea. Nobody ever promised following your dreams would be easy, but keep dreaming. Keep working toward those dreams. I did. I am. And my 37th published book, When the Meadow Blooms, just flew out to readers last month.
When have you needed the power of perseverance in your life?
Comments 10
Words to a wordsmith have to be shared I would imagine. And perseverance is a must to write a book!! Making yourself sit at a table with pad and paper, or typewriter, or computer, when you possibly would rather be doing something else at that moment. I used to work in banking, in the department where you corrected mistakes made by the bank or the Federal Reserve. It meant looking at miles and miles of microfilm for the document you needed. One of the banks I worked for still had the microfilming done by hand and the documents were often overlapped and unreadable. That meant I would have to search for the numbers the document was assigned so I could request a copy from the Fed or the other bank. All this searching took a great deal of perseverance!! Sometimes I would sigh and my boss told me she would cure that!!!
Author
That does sound like a job that took a lot of perseverance and diligent work, Marjorie. Computers can be a pain these days, but I don’t think the young people who never had to work with typewriters and the old ways of accessing information have any idea of how much harder it was to get some things done.
And yes, writing a book definitely takes perseverance, especially when the characters seem to stop playing nice and helping you see what happens next.
I think when paying off long term debts, like a house or a car. You know one day you will eventually get it paid for if you just keep on paying that monthly payment.
Author
So true, Connie, and sometimes knowing you will have to make those payments is motivation to save money to buy the things we want.
During the illness and passing of my husband of 61 years this past October. I am still persevering as I live alone in a house that is way too big for one person. The silence is deafening at times. There are things I need to be doing and places I need to be going but the desire is not there. I continue to pray that it will return-in the meantime…………
Author
Prayers for you and the grace of healing from your sadness, K. But I feel it’s only natural that you feel as you go after losing your husband. It takes time to find a new normal. Or if not normal, at least a way to experience joy in the days ahead.
Oh how I needed that boost today after not sleeping well due to a hyperactive and difficult puppy banging on his crate nearly all night. And the other stresses of life like wondering how long my aged mother will continue to survive in this state of dementia that leaves her helpless and in need of something I can’t give her. I appreciate your thoughts and words today and they seem so timely as my sleepy eyes pour over my inbox. Thanks!
Author
Prayers for you, Amy. Sounds as though life if throwing some hard things your way. Well, maybe not the puppy. He may be a joy when he gets a little older. Or even at times now. But it is difficult to deal with a loved one having dementia. I went through that with my mother and there were days when I needed to remember that verse about being able to do all things through Christ who stengthen me. Somehow, the Lord always helped us through those rough days when, as you say, she needed something I couldn’t give her.
As a teacher, one eventually gets bogged down in the lesson planning, grading of papers, and the day-to-day grind of getting up early and spending long days at it. It can become discouraging repeatedly correcting the same mistakes, reviewing the same principles, etc., but by the end of the school year, much learning has occurred. I marvel at the progress, which could only have taken place because of the perseverance!
Author
I appreciate teachers like you who do persevere and work with kids to get them a good start in life, Suzanne. But I’m sure there are days when you’d rather do almost anything other than grading another paper. Thank you for being a light of learning to the many youngsters that have passed through your classes.