This weekend I met with an author friend of mine.  She was the muse for Looking Ahead into 2011, the woman living my dream.  For the good part of two hours over a pumpkin spice latte, peppermint tea and Starbucks’ healthy fare, she graciously allowed me to pick the right side of her brain.  I should have brought my laptop to immortalize the morsels she offered, but the words I took away from  our meeting were not the kind for writing down.  Instead, I walked away with them branded to my writer’s soul.

How bad do you want it?

After we parted ways, I thought about those six little words, how they’re applicable to any number of areas in our lives.  My friend who desires to lose weight: how bad do you want it?  Another who hates his job and desperately wants to make a change: how bad do you want it?  The marriage in need of repair: how bad do you want it?  And the runner who longs to win the marathon: how bad do you want it?

One of the truths I also learned, as I’ve always suspected: I’m my own worst enemy.  In other words, I am the singlemost culprit who keeps me from doing what I want to do.  What I have to do.  When I’m not writing, I can’t blame my family or the dirty laundry or the call to the vet or the myriad other distractions that vie for my attention (and, quite candidly, prevail most often).  I did joke with my friend, saying I knew the real secret to her success are those 12 extra hours in her day.  But seriously, how bad do I want it? ~ cs

 

Always the write time to: be good enough.  I am the only who has lived what I’ve lived and knows what I know.  My writing doesn’t have to be the best there is or the brightest or the funniest or most clever.  It simply has to be good enough.  Thank you, HP, for your encouragement and wisdom.