On the importance of Adversity

Let's face it, life has a way of beating us down.

That can be especially true if you're a struggling writer. If you're attempting to go the traditional route then you have to deal with piles of rejection slips. If you're an independent author adversity can strike through stagnating sales or bad reviews.

Yet, there are a myriad of other ways that adversity affects us. Illness, injury, problems with money, arguments, car trouble. There are so many more.

Recently, I experienced a few of these. The most of important of which is this: my mother died of lung cancer.

Watching her slowly deteriorate was one of the most painful things I've ever had to go through.

When something like that happens to you it affects the way you look at life. Which means that it affects the way you look at writing.

I don't pity myself. I understand that there are people (many of them, unfortunately) who have it far worse than I do. It's been a particularly cold winter and there are people out there living on the streets. Many of them dying from the cold, I'm sure. But adversity is a very personal thing. You can't measure your problems against other people's because your worst problem is the worst thing that's ever happened to you. It elicits the same emotion as the worst thing that ever happened to someone else.

In times of adversity how to react tells a lot about our character. You can either let your troubles define your life or you can define your own life.

Will you quit when you get that first rejection slip? How about when you get the tenth, or the hundredth? Will you quit when you have a few days of small sales? Will you quit when you can't pay your rent or the car gets a flat or your family drives you crazy?

You must not.

In chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. The first means danger, the second opportunity.

Don't succumb to the dangers, take the opportunities as they come. In the words of Commander Taggart: never give up, never surrender.