Inspiration | Cathy C. Hall Writes

You know that line from Cool Hand Luke…A man has to know his limitations?

I guess it’s not politically correct, but I’m a big believer in that line, grasshopper. And now that May is winding down, I’m very glad I listened to that little voice in my head that said, “A woman has to know her limitations.”

‘Cause with state golf tournaments, movings out and movings in, graduations, birthdays, Mother’s Day and the day-to-day crises that I like to call my “regular” life, I could have had a scathingly stressful month, trying to produce at my normal output. Instead, I took a look at my calendar and made a different kind of writing plan. I decided to work on a long-term, on-going project. I kinda like where it’s going, even if I’m not quite finished yet.

And I worked on marketing tasks (that I can do in little chunks) and growing the business (that I can do at odd times). I’m hoping that will translate into financial gains down the road. For sure, there won’t be much in the plus column on the May ledger. But that’s okay. Sometimes, grasshopper, the business of raising children and family tasks can’t wait for the right time and date.

Sometimes, a woman’s got to know her limitations.

Sometimes, I just can’t take another minute of bad news. Fortunately, today was not one of those days. Today I read the newspaper.

And thank goodness, grasshopper, or I would have missed a nice little story on Page one of the Gwinnett Daily Post about a young man named Deep.

Young Deep was speaking at his former high school about what looks to all like a whole bunch of academic success that he’s enjoyed. But, Deep pointed out, there were quite a few failures along the way, too. It’s just that when we see highly successful folk, we don’t think about all the heartache and failure endured to get there. It’s the old Thomas Edison and the light bulb story, I guess. We see the single light and not the days of darkness Edison struggled through.

But here’s what Deep and Edison didn’t do: they didn’t quit. So, if you want to be a successful writer, grasshopper, you’re going to have to accept the failure it takes to get there.

Some of us have to accept a lot more failure than others. But you know what old Emily Dickinson had to say about that: Success is counted sweetest by those who n’er succeed. (Wait a minute-n’er succeed? How about “Success is counted sweetest by those who work really, really hard and screw up a lot but eventually succeed”? Yeah, that sounds a lot better.)

Almost forgot! You have one more day to zip over to Finders and Keepers and post a comment for a chance to win Rachel Dillon’s beautiful picture book!