It's Out There

The American Dream.  The recent economy has presented many challenges to the idea anyone can achieve their heart's desire if they work hard enough.  I wonder soon if that dream will be whittled down to being about to fill my car with gas.  My oldest son is wondering if he'll be able to afford the house he's going to look at tomorrow.  We both work hard, not only at our day jobs but at our extra jobs.

For him, that's coaching, painting with his father and just about any other odd job that comes up he can make money at while still attending grad school on weekends. During the day he is a teacher. I also teach and do a number of small extra duties that earn me a few dollars by tutoring.  But my biggest 'extra' job is my writing.

You can guess since I'm not retired from teaching, I'm not pulling in a big income from being a published author.  The business is tough, time-consuming and not for the faint-hearted or anyone who isn't very self-motivated.  And some days when I'm doing some blog hopping or checking out what my friends are up to on facebook, I wonder if I'm working hard enough.  As the publishing industry scrambles, stumbles, runs and trips over itself to keep up with the changes brought on by technology, opportunities abound for those ready to leap on the speeding missile of progress.  Am I running fast enough to make the leap or will I fall behind?  Success is out there somewhere, if only I can work hard enough and fast enough to grab the opportunities I'm told are available.

Do you feel like you're keeping up?  Or are the changes too fast for you? And guesses on the future?

Acquired Skills

I played competitive sports until my children were born and they all participated on numerous athletic teams in high school and college. My daughter has one more year of high school softball and they've already started indoor practices.  They practice a lot. Hours and hours.  They practice hitting, fielding and throwing.  They practice strategies for baserunning and defense.  Practice, practice, practice.  Sure, lots of the girls have natural coordination but they weren't born softball players.  They learned it.  They acquired the skills needed to play the game and they practice so they can play even better.

from FB

Yes, it's time for one of my comparisons of sports to writing.  People aren't born writers.  They learn how to write.  They practice skills they learn from one source or another.  Then they practice some more.  They attend workshops, take classes, and attend conferences.  They study the art in its successful forms by doing lots of reading.  They share information with others in the field and help each other.  They improve their skills as they go and learn you can never practice too much.  And even when they reach the championship level and have a book published, writers need to keep practicing. Writer is an acquired skill and is only acquired by those willing to practice endless hours and hone their skills to perfection. 

Get 'Em Next Time

I never met a writer who had never been rejected unless he or she had never submitted a piece of work.  Submission means the risk of failure and sometimes, perhaps most of the time, and failure happens.  I learned early on in my writing endeavors not everyone believes my prose needs to be enjoyed by the entire world.  Unthinkable but true.

Last night I had the joy of watching my daughter's high school softball game.  It was the first game in their conference playoffs.  My daughter was the designated hitter for this game, batting in the fifth slot.  Her first time up she hit a grounder and one of our base runners interfered with the fielder and made the last out of the inning. The next time she was up she popped out.  Third time up she struck out for only the second time all year.  At the end of regulation, seven innings, the game was tied 2-2. The skies had opened up as they seem to do nearly everyday and it was raining pretty good.  We were the visiting team and batting in the 8th.  Our first two batters got on base with walks and then moved to second and third on a wild pitch.  The other team walked our number four hitter to load the bases and set up the double play bringing my daughter to the plate.

Now to delve into my monthly sports/writing analogy.  My daughter was without a hit, the game was on the line and there was no tomorrow(though there is next year).  The pressure was on. I had seen my daughter's frustration in her previous at bats.  But she stepped into the box and got ready to hit.  She hit a long fly ball, our runner on third tagged up and scored.  We won the game, 3-2.

It's easy to give up after a few failures.  Failure can strip us of our confidence.  But no one bats a thousand.  No one gets a hit every time.  But if we stay in the game and keep trying, there's always the chance we'll get 'em next time.  Work hard, practice and one day the game winner will be ours.  If we keep failing, we need to work on our game, improve our skills and seek some coaching.  Then we step up to the plate and take another swing at it. 

Hopefully you all don't mind sports analogies but at our house, we're either reading or playing sports.  I can't help myself putting them together.

Have you had some winning hits lately to make up for the strike outs?