Philosophy | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Need a smile? You’ll find one when you watch this BBC story about Phyllis Greene from Ohio, a 90 year old who’s whooping it up in the blogosphere. It’s a little bit funny (as Elton John would sing) that the BBC would bring us this American story. But I’m glad those producers came al-l-l-l-l-l-l the way over here, and Ms. Greene surely enjoyed the experience.

Oh, and did I mention that Phyllis has almost 200 followers? And that she’s on Facebook? And that she’s in hospice? One of my choir friends told me about Phyllis last night, but honestly? It’s stories like this, about a spunky 90 year old blogger, that make my heart sing!

You know what makes my heart race? Numbers, and figures, and word problems, oh my! So when I found this cool search engine that can do all sorts of calculating, I sped over to Wolfram. Now, I didn’t really have anything earth-shattering to figure out on this particular morning, but a gal likes to keep up with her BMI (Body Mass Index). And unfortunately, thinking really, really hard doesn’t burn any calories. So I let Wolfram figure it out for me. Of course, you might want to find other scathingly brilliant stuff from this computational knowledge engine. But just throwing around a phrase like “computational knowledge engine” already makes you sound brilliant, right?

Finally, I found my horoscope this morning. To wit: You have fans in the sidelines you do not even know about. They are waiting for the right moment to make their interest in you known. They have been entertained by you and can’t wait to see what you will do next.

So, I’m fixing to run around the neighborhood, wearing nothing but a tiara and tennis shoes, just to see what happens. But first, I’m calling the BBC.

Some of you may be familiar with the prayer that’s been attributed to Mother Teresa commonly referred to as “Do It Anyway.” One of the stanzas goes like this:

What you spends years creating, others could destroy overnight.

Create anyway.

I often think of writing when I read these lines. I think of the years I’ve dedicated to one manuscript, hoping it will turn into a wondrous book, and that someday, that book will sit upon a shelf. I think of the research I’ve worked on, gathering information for one article, writing, editing, and polishing the words only to find that the market I pitched is no longer interested. I think of that one essay I’ve poured myself into, and yet, the thoughts are wrapped up in a neat little document on my computer, because time after time, the essay’s been rejected.

But I’m a writer, so I create anyway. And I send my creations out into the world, aware that failure is an option, that an editor or contest judge or publisher or even another writer might stomp all over my writing heart and soul. I try anyway. Because I know what Mother Teresa knew. Sometimes, success is waiting.

Yesterday, I heard from a friend who won a wondrous grant for unpublished authors. And I had an article accepted in a market that I almost didn’t send to, because I thought I didn’t have the credentials to get published there. I have another friend who’s on a blog tour for her second romance novel, though she started her writing career with a memoir.

Keep creating. Keep trying. Success is an option, too.

(If you’d like to read the entire Mother Teresa prayer, as well as the original poem on which it was based, you can click here. As for the photo, that “V” in the water is called a “fish trap.” Native Americans found (I suspect after quite a few failures!) that they could pile up rocks in shallow river beds, thereby trapping the fish. Success at last-and a mighty fine dinner!)