We all fail. It's apart of life. What we do with is the key.
I'm looking to not fail during this NaBloWriMo and so far we're on day 17 and I'm still going strong. Not to mention I'm still keeping me swagger (hell yeah!) and no one has left me to go find something more interesting. (I'd be lying if I said there wasn't someone more interesting out there... but I beg you, please stay here with me, I hate being lonely!)
Back to failing. I've started to get nervous about this whole National Novel Writing Month approaching in November (NaNoWriMo for those who know the abbreviation). I don't want to fail, I want to make my go of 50K but that's when I reminded myself. Failing is a part of life. If I am to fail then it will happen and I should accept it and keep pushing on. However the more I focus on it the more it will become true.
Even J.K. Rowling admits to failing, and the 12 times she sent out her Harry Potter novels she felt the failure in each rejection letter... but that 13th saw her for what she really was... someone who was going to be huge one day!
Maybe you're the next J.K. Rowling.. and if you are, accept your failures and move on... the faster you do, the faster you'll be sitting with Oprah.
Blogger Note: 13 is a very lucky number and I think it all had to do with a little bit of magic, I think the world of Hogwarts put in a good word for her. Also just incase you didn't know this is Oprahs last year so if you're planning on an interview you better get your tush writing and STOP failing so she'll be interested. Make it EPIC.
What's your latest failure?
40 comments:
My latest failure? Not sticking to my resolution about my homework. I loathe the class and literally have to force myself to work at it. My goal is to just do as many modules as possible and submit them....
I admire your determination. Keep it up! You inspire!
My latest failure is not focusing hard enough. My mom will point things out to me that I should have noticed (like when we're walking) and my mind will sometimes drift when I'm trying to read, blog, etc.
My latest failure is putting off my revisions. I planned to start a few weeks ago ... didn't happen. But your reminder that this is Oprah's last year might just be the kick I need. Gotta be on Oprah!
Jen,
Don't consider it failing so much as changing the timeline for your accomplishments. I've had to do that repeatedly.
Right now, I'm WAY behind in correcting student work, and the un-moveable deadline of the report card is fast approaching. So I better kick my butt into gear.
NaNoWriMo is supposed to motivate you and inspire you, not worry you. However many words you write in November will be forward progress. Enjoy it!
Underestimating all that goes into promoting a book!
I'm not worried about NaNo, though. I intend to complete my next book no matter what the word count.
There's no way I could handle NaNo. I'm stressed out enough as it is... lol. I just don't I'd write anything decent under pressure like that. I'll have to catch Oprah on her next journalistic endeavor! lol.
I failed to realize today was Sunday. Sounds silly, but there are SO many things I need to do in preparation for Monday. I would have been in Big Trouble if I walked about all day thinking it was Saturday.
Failing is a part of life and sometimes we grow more from that than succeeding. :O)
how about failing to revise my WIPs properly before I send them out. Its like OCD i cant help it.
Am not sure I would be ready for oprah this year but how about me dragging her out of retirement that would be epic!
I will probably 'fail' in my goal to finish my current wip by October 25. I still have 23,000words to go. But I'm pretty sure I'll have it done by Nov. 25th. Call it success delayed.
latest novel failure: revisions.
Latest life failure: not getting the sicky feeling. I can not fail at not getting sick though! no!
Cheering for you to not fail this month and next month!
You are absolutely right Jen, it's something I wrestle with all the time. I guess it is a slow path to success for writers. In the day job we can have good days and bad and still take home a wage, but if the writing sucks we just get a sense of failure. I've read books that comment that even successful short story writers get their work returned sometimes, so we all need rhino hides to succeed! :O)
I'm in the middle of my latest failure - fixing a coincidence that was at the core of my wip. Fixing it is WAY harder than I expected and is taking me (literally) forever. *sigh*
My latest failure: small business accounting. After two years of trying to "get it" I gave up and let an accountant do it. (Duh!) And he made us money. The lesson learned is awesome: I leave the numbers to the professional number people who love them and I stick with words which I love playing with. We're all happy. :)
I failed to realize that my tire had a nail in it, so I'm sitting on a flat. Upside, is I'm stuck inside all day.
Possibly plotting for NaNo.
I try not to view failure in terms of a one time thing. I try to see it like this: Say it takes 100 rejections before you can get an acceptance. Well, a rejection is just one more notch in the belt before I can get to that acceptance. If it was just one out of one, well, I'd cry myself to sleep every night. So I give it a bigger perspective and it helps me let go of the sad part of rejection. :)
Failing to follow doctor's orders and not write until my elbow is completely healed. But really, how could I? I do know it's better, but the idea fills me with horror :P
Also, gave you a blog award on my blog! :)
I think it's impossible to fail at NaNoWriMo, because really if we're writing like mad for 30 days and only get to 30,000 words that's still pretty dang great! My latest failure? I have no clue. I fail constantly. I just don't think about it.
This is not failing. If I had gotten my first book published when I wanted it published, I would have succeeded in writing a load of crap. Stumbling, reworking, refining, writing generous portions of text just because you set a goal to do so, that's success because that's the hard part.
A few of my fave failure quotes:
"Failure is the mother of success."
"Failure can make you bitter, or it can make you better."
"If you're not failing, you're not trying."
Failing show us what we're made of. I'll be doing NaNo too... and I'm getting a lil scared of the intensity. All in good fun tho, right?? Add me to your writing buddy list. I'm pkhrezo.
Best of luck with it! :)
i love this post.
my latest failure is more like a running series of small failures. all the little things _ forgetting to ring my nana on her bday (okay, so maybe that's not such a little thing), not putting out the big bin (or trash us you guys call out) and now it's overflowing, making goals of granduer and fizzing out before I've even made a dent...
but i am so decided that nano will be accomplished... (please God let me not fail!)
That's a loaded question there, Jen. I guess my latest failure would be putting off all weekend what I could have... no, SHOULD have gotten done Friday night. But no matter. It'll all get done and the universe will realign itself without much fuss.
Yeah, I'm worried about NaNo and after being sick for the last two weeks I'm behind on the many things I wanted to get done before November. EEekk!
As always, a great post with good stuff to think about. My greatest failure these days, not kicking myself in the butt to move master toward completing a writing project I'm working on.
Good luck in NaNoWriMo. I know you can do it! And there is no such thing as failure, just hurdles on the road of life. If you can't get over them, go around them. But most important...keep on going!
Well, I really admire you for blogging so much. It's just not something I could do!
Love this post! Failure is just part of the human experience. My latest failure... Facebook instead of reading!
I needed this post! Thanks for sharing. :)
I am nervous about Nano too...not sure if I am motivated enough. But who cares about motivation? Just do it! (That is what I tell myself). Current novel failure is not writing it. I have been working on the outline and hopefully Nano will get my butt into gear!
My latest failure is not getting enough sleep. Sounds silly, but I've been putting sleep last on my list of priorities, and it's really affecting my work! So from tonight on, I'm going to bed early.
"If at first you don't succeed...." ; ) We all have to fail, just keep "Failing Forward!"
Failure... everyone must have experience it... if not, then dont expect to be a success...
very nice post!
thanks for coming to my site and wrote a lovely comment...
Now I'll start reading your interesting site.
Wish you the best.
nensa
My lucky number is seven. 13 is very bad for me.
Even if you don't get to 50K, you'll be a whole lot closer than if you hadn't done NaNo at all.
I'm back from break and I totally missed you and your blog - so good to be back!
Writing has definitely taught me a lot about failure and picking myself up again. Good luck with NaNo! I know you can do it. And, at the very least, you'll get a lot of good work done.
You learn from your mistakes. I believe the same for "failures"; they are just learning opportunities if you ask me :)
Thanks for letting us know that we aren't the only ones struggling. A little encouragement and empathy is always needed!
And you are totally right, my time with Oprah is quickly diminishing!
Just the fact that you are participating in NaNoWriMo is awesome. Even if you don't get all 50k words, it's still a big accomplishment to have even tried. I'm not doing NaNo this year because I NEED to finish my own novel- I'm using that month to try to meet my goal of finishing though.
You can do it, Jen! Remember, someone who never fails is just someone who doesn't try new things. You already know my latest failure - query rejection. And I got another today!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and becoming my 30th follower - yay!
Don't worry about failing NaNo - I don't think you will. Just remember that no one else sees your work so you can write whatever you like - even if it doesn't make sense!
I hosted my first giveaway on my blog a couple days ago and I thought it was a failure. I only had a few people enter, I was hoping to get a lot. But, to be fair, I was really happy to choose a winner and I really cherished every comment I got!
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