Acceptance: An Often Unappreciated Skill
By pesky blogger and amazingly happy inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne
(Who happens to have a brand new mystery out right now!!!! Book 25, the final book of the Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard series, oh my stars, I am so happy right now!)
JUST OVER THE HORIZON
I try to be very accepting of people.
(Stop choking.... that is not a nice reaction)
That doesn't mean I always like what they do, or approve of it, but by the right of adulthood and the grace of a free nation, they get to make their own choices and mistakes, just like me. I used to be more critical and then I had one of those FLASH!!!! moments of insight when I realized I was just being a jerk, so I stopped that. Because it's really not pleasant to be a jerk. To them, or you.
So I've improved on that scale. That's good, right? Not perfect, but I figure "Let it be... Let it be..." very Paul McCartney friendly of me.
But then it comes to the whole "God's will be done" thing and the "God's timing" and oh, yes...
"God's got this".
Some might call it lack of patience.
I will argue that point and say I have a lot of patience, but I want total world-domination-type control and I want to make things happen now. Like right now. Like ten minutes ago, right now, and why doesn't the world see that it should happen that way when I can see it so clearly?
So it's not about patience.
It's acceptance and I have a problem with that.
I am the epitome of the "New York Minute" and I don't think it's because I'm from New York. I think I just have frenetic energy and I don't understand the laid-back choices of folks who say one thing... then do another.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
This is huge for writers. I saw a stat that said that over 85% of RWA members will never write a book.
WILL NEVER WRITE A WHOLE BOOK.....
But they love writing.
(Excuse me while I put my puzzled face on....)
They love the "social aspects of writing".
And then there are folks who look at this amazingly wonderful career and treat it like a job.
WHAT??? A JOB???? RUTHY, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?????? THAT'S SO MEAN!
(Ruthy sighs and waits for the drama queens and kings to calm down, and this is where the acceptance comes in...)
There is nothing wrong with loving your job. Let that sink in, darlings.
It is okay to love your work. It is okay to excel at your craft. It's okay to put in time every day and keep trudging ahead because if you're willing to do that... and if you have a modicum of talent... you can build your own success. And if you're not willing, that's okay, too... but don't get in the way of those who are willing to do the job.
Lots of folks fear success. They fear the work or the rejection or the time invested or the changes that must, must, must be made if you're going to make it in the traditionally published world.
They fear people who are going to remind them to pull up their big girl (or boy) panties and get on with it.
They fear failure.
Bah.
Humbug.
Failure's just another word for "Keep trying. You're not quite there yet."
Failure's no big deal.
Quitting...
Now there's a big deal. That's a huge deal. Like ridiculously huge.
And that's where the acceptance comes in as far as writing goes. I have to accept a bunch of things I hate. I hate that I have two young friends, parents of young children, and they are both fighting cancer and working to stay alive until a cure is found... I hate that I know people whose beautiful baby didn't survive the birth process.... I hate that I have to watch people I love suffer with dementia and watch them become someone else as the disease wins the battle for their brain.
But for writing, acceptance means I can accept that not every publisher, editor, agent, reader or author is going to love my work.
Big deal. And I don't mean that disrespectfully, it's just that authors have the option to write their own destiny if they are willing to do the work and willing to hire an editor and scrub and polish.
We have so many choices now. Not to litter the landscape with awful stuff or poorly written nonsense (and I've seen my share of that out there) but to exercise the choices we have and the opportunities we've been given, but first... we must put in the effort to accomplish the goal/task.
And on my part, I can accept that if 85% of the people who maintain that they want to be writers, never write a book, I'm looking at some great job security.
PARTY BONUS!!!!!
Because if you're in that 15% of productive people, well, my friends.... we'll probably see you setting sail off of Unpubbed Island some time soon because a world of opportunity awaits you if you simply Don't Quit.
And I can accept that 24/7/365 because if God gave you this unique talent, I'd love for you to use it to the best of your ability. So while my One Word for 2019 is "Accept", you can see that I have issues with it... That while I love God, I don't want Him to take my friends away.
And when I see people squandering a God-given talent, I cringe... because at some point we have to face that Good Lord and I want to be like that Erma Bombeck quote I have in my kitchen:
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and I could say, "I used everything that you gave me."
Yeah. That. Hey, Ruthy brought a copy of that new mystery to give away to someone who wants to chat about writing, reading, procrastination and/or what is it about books that you love? Leave a comment below and she'll enter you into the drawing for this beautiful Book 25 of the "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard"!
Multi-published, award-winning inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne lives on a pumpkin farm in Western New York where this year's constant rainstorms have created a VGF. (Very Grumpy Farmer). In light of that, Ruthy hides where and when she can to create wonderful stories that people love to read because she's as normal as they are... with a dash of snark. Email her at loganherne@gmail.com, friend her on facebook, follow her on Twitter (where she is frequently amazed and chagrined by how mean some folks can be.... under their very silly names.) Or swing by her website ruthloganherne.com.... she'd love to chat with you!
(Who happens to have a brand new mystery out right now!!!! Book 25, the final book of the Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard series, oh my stars, I am so happy right now!)
JUST OVER THE HORIZON
I try to be very accepting of people.
(Stop choking.... that is not a nice reaction)
That doesn't mean I always like what they do, or approve of it, but by the right of adulthood and the grace of a free nation, they get to make their own choices and mistakes, just like me. I used to be more critical and then I had one of those FLASH!!!! moments of insight when I realized I was just being a jerk, so I stopped that. Because it's really not pleasant to be a jerk. To them, or you.
So I've improved on that scale. That's good, right? Not perfect, but I figure "Let it be... Let it be..." very Paul McCartney friendly of me.
But then it comes to the whole "God's will be done" thing and the "God's timing" and oh, yes...
"God's got this".
Some might call it lack of patience.
I will argue that point and say I have a lot of patience, but I want total world-domination-type control and I want to make things happen now. Like right now. Like ten minutes ago, right now, and why doesn't the world see that it should happen that way when I can see it so clearly?
So it's not about patience.
It's acceptance and I have a problem with that.
I am the epitome of the "New York Minute" and I don't think it's because I'm from New York. I think I just have frenetic energy and I don't understand the laid-back choices of folks who say one thing... then do another.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
This is huge for writers. I saw a stat that said that over 85% of RWA members will never write a book.
WILL NEVER WRITE A WHOLE BOOK.....
But they love writing.
(Excuse me while I put my puzzled face on....)
They love the "social aspects of writing".
And then there are folks who look at this amazingly wonderful career and treat it like a job.
WHAT??? A JOB???? RUTHY, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?????? THAT'S SO MEAN!
(Ruthy sighs and waits for the drama queens and kings to calm down, and this is where the acceptance comes in...)
There is nothing wrong with loving your job. Let that sink in, darlings.
It is okay to love your work. It is okay to excel at your craft. It's okay to put in time every day and keep trudging ahead because if you're willing to do that... and if you have a modicum of talent... you can build your own success. And if you're not willing, that's okay, too... but don't get in the way of those who are willing to do the job.
Lots of folks fear success. They fear the work or the rejection or the time invested or the changes that must, must, must be made if you're going to make it in the traditionally published world.
They fear people who are going to remind them to pull up their big girl (or boy) panties and get on with it.
They fear failure.
Bah.
Humbug.
Failure's just another word for "Keep trying. You're not quite there yet."
Failure's no big deal.
Quitting...
Now there's a big deal. That's a huge deal. Like ridiculously huge.
And that's where the acceptance comes in as far as writing goes. I have to accept a bunch of things I hate. I hate that I have two young friends, parents of young children, and they are both fighting cancer and working to stay alive until a cure is found... I hate that I know people whose beautiful baby didn't survive the birth process.... I hate that I have to watch people I love suffer with dementia and watch them become someone else as the disease wins the battle for their brain.
But for writing, acceptance means I can accept that not every publisher, editor, agent, reader or author is going to love my work.
Big deal. And I don't mean that disrespectfully, it's just that authors have the option to write their own destiny if they are willing to do the work and willing to hire an editor and scrub and polish.
We have so many choices now. Not to litter the landscape with awful stuff or poorly written nonsense (and I've seen my share of that out there) but to exercise the choices we have and the opportunities we've been given, but first... we must put in the effort to accomplish the goal/task.
And on my part, I can accept that if 85% of the people who maintain that they want to be writers, never write a book, I'm looking at some great job security.
PARTY BONUS!!!!!
Because if you're in that 15% of productive people, well, my friends.... we'll probably see you setting sail off of Unpubbed Island some time soon because a world of opportunity awaits you if you simply Don't Quit.
And I can accept that 24/7/365 because if God gave you this unique talent, I'd love for you to use it to the best of your ability. So while my One Word for 2019 is "Accept", you can see that I have issues with it... That while I love God, I don't want Him to take my friends away.
And when I see people squandering a God-given talent, I cringe... because at some point we have to face that Good Lord and I want to be like that Erma Bombeck quote I have in my kitchen:
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and I could say, "I used everything that you gave me."
Yeah. That. Hey, Ruthy brought a copy of that new mystery to give away to someone who wants to chat about writing, reading, procrastination and/or what is it about books that you love? Leave a comment below and she'll enter you into the drawing for this beautiful Book 25 of the "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard"!
Multi-published, award-winning inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne lives on a pumpkin farm in Western New York where this year's constant rainstorms have created a VGF. (Very Grumpy Farmer). In light of that, Ruthy hides where and when she can to create wonderful stories that people love to read because she's as normal as they are... with a dash of snark. Email her at loganherne@gmail.com, friend her on facebook, follow her on Twitter (where she is frequently amazed and chagrined by how mean some folks can be.... under their very silly names.) Or swing by her website ruthloganherne.com.... she'd love to chat with you!
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