Persistence

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."  

           -Ben Franklin 

This week I read an article online about the most important thing to an aspiring author. There are plenty of anecdotal quips to be found online about the art of finding your magical niche in the writing world, and most of them come across as overwhelmingly false. This article was quite the opposite; while it contained too much crude language for my tastes, I do believe it hit the nail on the head in regards to the journey of writing.

Persistence was the answer to this oft-asked question. Without persistence, an aspiring writer simply cannot make their dreams become reality. The more I considered this thought, the more I saw the validity of the idea.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard scoffers make snide comments at my chosen career.

“Don’t quit your day job!”

“You better have a backup plan, I mean, no one makes it writing.”

“You must be a masochist. I hope you like rejection…”

As a teenager these remarks nearly drove me away from writing. While I had the occasional teacher in high school and college that really tried to nurture writing talents in their classrooms, most of them were simply pushing us to succeed with our test scores. Often, it felt like we were being driven to higher-paying jobs so we could “succeed in life.”

But what determines success in life?

To me, the number on my paycheck ranks pretty low in terms of my life’s value. Life should be about a legacy, about leaving some mark on the world that makes it a better place. We’ve each been blessed with our own talents, and to deny them in order to “make more money” seems like an egregious waste.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream of Harry Potter-level success, but even then the success is about touching people’s lives and bringing them, for however brief a moment, to truly think for themselves. I think of the books that have most influenced me, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Flies, and The Divine Comedy. I aspire to touch readers as those books have reached me.

For now, I write for a readership that varies between five and seven hundred depending on the day. None of my manuscripts have even made it to an agent’s desk yet, let alone to a publisher. I’ve been rejected from nearly a dozen writing competitions. Yet I still write, and dream of the day when I’ll hold a book in my hand, my name neatly printed across the cover. I persist, because even in the darkest hours of doubt, when I want to throw my hands up and quit, I still love writing. Something occurs that can’t be put into words without sounding esoteric and snobbish. For the time I spend at the keyboard, or at the legal pad, I feel like I can truly create.

Thus, I persist. Soon my latest manuscript will be complete, and I’ll no doubt be discussing rejection letters on this blog. But eventually, I have faith that there will be a different type of post. One in which I will revert to a childlike level of excitement that will destroy any potential I ever had of a professional veneer. I know that first successfully published piece will not end the doubt and uncertainty, but it cannot change the simple fact that lies at the heart of all these words put to paper and screen.

I write because I love to write, and I will continue to do so.