tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-1700500365263733062008-03-21T10:39:00.000-05:002008-03-21T10:39:00.000-05:00Great post. And it’s so easy for writers to get to that point.<BR/><BR/>I’d second Ralph Keyes’ books, and about forgiveness, it took me a long time to realize that forgiveness is something you actually give yourself. The person you’re mad at usually doesn’t care one way or the other. But when you forgive, you cut yourself away from all the ropes that were dragging you through a vale of bitterness. Suddenly you have much more focus and energy ‘cause you’re not spending all day stomping on some old wound.<BR/><BR/>Here’s some quotes I’ve found useful.<BR/><BR/>You never quit. You can’t be discouraged. But, at the same time, a person should not fault himself for becoming discouraged. It’s going to happen. It’s natural. But you still have to commit yourself. You have to do something every day for your art, or you’ll never be a success at it.<BR/>- James Lee Burke<BR/><BR/>I sulked. Sulking is a big effort. So is not writing. I only realized that when I did start writing. When I started getting real work done, I realized how much easier it is to write than not to write. Not writing is probably the most exhausting profession I’ve ever encountered. It takes it out of you.<BR/>- Fran Lebowitz<BR/><BR/>The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.<BR/>- Fitzgerald<BR/><BR/>I was prepared for a couple of years of rejections. In the first three months, fifteen agents and fifteen publishers said no to me. Most writers go through that. It’s good for you, though, because when success does come, it’s all the sweeter.<BR/>- John Grisham<BR/><BR/>Character is founded on the ability to learn more from failure than other people do.<BR/>- Norman Mailersteve in mainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15026970188928733645noreply@blogger.com