Sometimes, I get discouraged with the writing process. Hell. I’m not anywhere close with the writing. I’m just getting started, honestly.

You prep for the book, you research. You outline. You put together the plot treatment, then you outline again. And again. Until it comes together. Eventually, it comes together. It will, and I believe that.

This morning, I saw this excellent item on NPR.org, a series called “My Big Break.” This segment is about Diana Nyad. Talk about inspirational.

Go Diana! Source: Ramon Espinoza/AP

Diana swam from Cuba to Key West, one stroke at a time. She got in, she did it. It took her several tries, but she did it. In the story she says she just decided to find another way to do it each time. Eventually, she found the way that worked.

I liken that to my writing process.

The only way I’ll have Emmett’s book written is to do it one word at a time.

Do-overs are OK. You do it to find the way that eventually works for you. It doesn’t happen the first time you sit down at the blank screen, or the blank page. But, that is where it starts.

You just …start.

Here’s to perseverance.

Categories: Book The Writing Life

Tagged as: Diana Nyad My Big Break NPR perseverance

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus