Playing the Game

This past weekend was Father's Day. So, like any good daughter would I suffered through an entire weekend of the US Open and the Seattle Mariners vs  the Philadelphia Phillies. (Though it really wasn't all that bad) We mainly watched the US Open--so I at least had some cute boys to watch. (Really.)

like this one: Rory McIlroy

I questioned my dad about terms and players (it makes them feel like you're really interested) and my dad repeated a phrase that I've heard him say a bajillion times. "In golf--even when you're playing against other people--you're really playing against yourself."

And it struck me. Golf and writing are totally siblings from different parents. We all compete against each other for book deals and contracts with agents. No matter how much we love our fellow writerly friends, we still wish to get those before they do. But the most challenging thing about writing isn't getting the contracts, the agents or the deals (though they certainly are a challenge). No. The difficult part is working against yourself to get the idea that's taken over your mind out and into words.

We've got to work against being tired, distractions, writers block, procrastination, our need to be perfect, MC's that don't do as they're told... the list could go on forever.

Of course, some of the obstacles in writing are easy for people to conquer. Others just make us want to cry and bang our laptops against a wall and then cry some more 'cause we just lost all of our work. (Hopefully no one has actually done this!) Either way, we're all working against our own personal challenges to complete the same goal. Writing a novel.

So whether you're the McIlroy of the literary world or the Frederick Jacobson (a fairly attractive swede) or the John Daly (not so attractive middle-aged man), we've all got to play the game and eventually we'll have our time to shine.

Where are you in the ranks?