discipline keeps the course when all else seems impossible.
Have you seen the movie Limitless with that sexy Bradley Cooper? in the opening scene you see him walking across the street he is unkempt, (unkempt such a lovely word), and then we hear him say “You see that guy? That was me not so long ago. What kind of guy without a drug or alcohol problem looks this way? Only a writer.”
In the opening Eddie, played by Bradley Cooper, joins friends for a drink he attempts to tell them about his book but as he puts it not even his friends can believe he has a book deal. So he decides that today is the day he is going to conquer his demons and own that book but he has writers block….
It seems that I am always talking about road blocks to the story. Unlike M Christian, Thomas Roche, Sascha Illyvich, Jean Marie Stine, Deborah Riley Magnus and the other very great names that contribute here that offer great advice on how to succeed – I am here to tell you that YES it takes talent, YES it takes a bit of luck! YES it takes all these great writers have to tell you and more to succeed. But many do succeed and you can too if you just stay in the room and write.
So today I sit in front of my computer like I do every day creating websites, creating stories.. getting carried away by the moment that leads to the next burst of creativity. But somehow this Thursday is different, after a long hiatus, I am back… but I don’t feel like I belong. What do I have to offer other than the recurring theme of perseverance? What can I say that is will impart knowledge. How do I fit in with this site’s company of such articulate, informative, talented writers….
I know many of you must face that feeling of not being good enough, not having anything to say worth writing. Your stories feel insignificant and the plots stale and yet there is still an ember that burns inside that keeps you from working at the mall or some fast food restaurant.
Eddie in Limitless knew that he needed a the bones of good work ethic to put this ideas on paper but he couldn’t keep his ass in the chair.
Because it was a movie he took drugs that helped him do all the things he wanted to do with a clear head and no self doubt. But that is real. In the real world drugs and alcohol dim our lights and handicap us.
In my world, when I feel this way I look at the quote by Robert Huges that I keep close by… “The Greater the artist, the greater the doubt. perfect confidence is given to the less talented as a consolation prize.”
it reminds me that I will have doubts but that I can work through them…
As writers, artists we will always have doubts. It has been a constant struggle through the centuries. Even Monet who was known to visit the Louve in his painters smock would fix his painting with brushes he had hidden in that smock.
So today if the words are not coming, don’t give up. Just keep your ass in the chair and type.
With love
Oceania
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