Can I Write Just Once More Today?

“Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.”

Napoleon Hill

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

 Robert Frost

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

Can I write once more today?   I don’t see why not.  If I do, I will have written three blogs in fewer than twelve hours.  I’m not trying to set a record here, but I am trying to win a victory.  I’ve been holed up in my place all day and it’s been nice.  I’ve eaten in order to keep up my strength and I’ve had some nice human contact, but mostly I’ve kept to myself. 

Part of the reason for staying to myself is because my days are usually stressful and filled with tasks and obligations.  It’s nice to have time to take care of myself and even nicer to get time to write.  The other reason I’ve kept to myself is to work on my writing.  There are few things more important to me.  I’m not even sure what I’m going to say; I’m just going to write.  I feel compelled to do this because I have a vision of doing this every morning, writing for three or four hours every day.  But could I really do that?  Would I have the power to sustain that schedule?

I don’t know.  So I’m going to start with the time I have now.  Maybe today is a test.  Maybe it’s a test with one question:

You have a day all to yourself.  You say you want, with all your heart, to be a writer.  So what do you choose to do with this day?

The way I answer that question in both words and deeds may determine my entry into the next level.  I have to be faithful with a little before I can get a lot.  In my own life I have always liked the idea of things more than their actual reality.  I liked the idea of knowledge, but I didn’t like to spend time reading books.  I liked the idea of good grades, but I didn’t like to study.  I liked the idea of having a lot of money, but I didn’t like to work.   I liked the idea of being God’s representative on earth, but I didn’t control my rudeness with people.

“Ideas are worthless without action,” says Earl Nightingale in The Strangest Secret.  Action means I do something.  It also means doing something different than what I’ve done in the past.  If I do not feel successful, then I’m probably not.  And if I’m not, it’s probably because I haven’t taken enough action.  It doesn’t need to be the right action; it just needs to be something other than avoiding work and effort.  Action means I need to work.  I need to put away the comic books and games and movies and do something that is a good investment of my time.  As much as I love comic books, games and movies, none of those things have made me any money, earned me any self-respect or moved me to a better place in life.  In fact, they’ve often held me back. 

So I’m writing my third blog today because the answer to the question above is this:

I choose to write.  I choose to fulfill my commitments to those I love and to myself.  I choose to work.  Perhaps later I can read a comic book or watch a movie, but right now I choose to work.

This feels good.  This is the best possible use of my time.  I will sleep better for it.  I will feel better later for what I am doing now.  That’s what an investment is – reward later for effort now.  But the reward is also now.  Doing the work is truly is its own reward.  That’s why this feels good. 

Perhaps this will lead nowhere, but I doubt it.  Writing every day may or may not lead me to all the money I’d like or a book contract, but it will lead me somewhere.  Consistently being in Purpose always leads us somewhere new and better.  I have never seen this fail.  Never.  So I’m going to keep writing.  My task still needs to be the same – to wake up early every morning so I can write. 

This much is certain:  every time I write and every time I publish another blog, I have just been victorious.  I have won a victory against fear, laziness and procrastination.  Every time I do my work, I have won.  Every.  Single.  Time.  And one victory will build on the next until I have a string of them, such as 202 blogs for example.

So I Get Started and I Keep Going.  God willing, I will write more tomorrow and the next day and the next day until God asks me to stop.