Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Give Me a U! UNSPECTACULAR

Welcome to The Blogging A-Z Challenge April 2012! Some of the most popular posts here at The Shellshank Redemption are the Motivational Mondays. So, after consulting the tortoises, we decided to make April our Motivational Month! Please join us for this (almost!) daily dose of alphabetical inspiration. We hope you enjoy it! 

* SPECTACULAR ACHIEVEMENT IS ALWAYS PRECEDED BY UNSPECTACULAR PREPARATION. (Robert Schuller) *

For every elite athlete, there were hours and hours of training. There was sweat. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

For every award-winning actor/actress, there were hours and hours of memorizing lines and taking acting classes and going to auditions. There were bad roles and bad scripts. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

For every bestselling or famous author, there were hours and hours of words and lines and pages. There were arguments with characters and with spouses. There were rejections and critique groups and draft after draft of that essay or story or novel. There were index cards all over the floor and storyboards leaning against every wall in the room. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

Every time we read about another “overnight success,” let’s do our best to not get frustrated or depressed. We know the truth. Let’s just smile and nod knowingly, and then get back on that treadmill or head off to that audition or revise that manuscript for the eighth…or ninth…time.

We’ll be “overnight successes” in no time!   

10 comments:

  1. This hit home for me today as I've been working on editing my story and it feels VERY "unspectacular." It was so much more fun to write it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julie - I hear you. My novel is just a giant mess of notes and index cards as I struggle through the plotting and planning. I want to WRITE it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unspectacular. Yep, that's the word for it. I'm doing some very unspectacular stuff right now. :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laurita - there's a lot of that going around. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice U post today. I often think of the 'overnight' success too, since my daughter and son in law sing I understand if they EVER really make it, it won't be an overnight success, but lots and lots of hard work!
    Great post and thought provoking.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Melody-Mae - thanks! And thank you for stopping by. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for stopping by my blog! You're right that there are so many hours of unseen work that goes into making any talent an actual talent (blending your T post and U). I agree overnight success is kind of a misnomer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post. Success wouldn't be as sweet if it came easily, I reckon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. sometimes i feel like my spectacular moment wont come for ll this unspectacular work... ah well. at least i like it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stephsco - I wish more people understood that. It would take some of the pressure of. :)

    Nick - thanks!

    Tara - I know what you mean, but we just have to hang in there and believe...

    ReplyDelete