The Necessity of Failure Plus How "Accidents" Happen

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Photo
credit: Mindful One




While reading Kevin Kelly's blog (which
focuses on technology + the future), I came across this wonderful quote for writers.

Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't
work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite
right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered
with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem
is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden
ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will
come. Get to work. (Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town)

So true. And it somewhat echoes what
I said at my keynote in Austin this past weekend: If you're not failing, you're
probably not shooting high enough.



Everyone fails. That's not the important part. What's important is what you do next.
Are you learning? Are you growing? Is your experience making you bigger—or is it shrinking
you down, making you small?



Particularly in a time of tremendous change in the industry, it is inevitable that
some—even many—of our efforts will fail. I hope it can contribute to your progress,
rather than stop it.

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[image error]Looking
for more words of wisdom about the writing life? I highly recommend Page
After Page by Heather Sellers.

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