Showing Up

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Woody Allen

My oldest daughter, Katherine, played softball and baseball for about ten years.  Her first softball coach, a man named Fred (not his real name) had an odd saying:  “You need to show up!”  He would shout this at the girls, most of them about 8 or 9 years old, when he felt they weren’t playing to their full potential.  I thought it was an odd saying, but he seemed to favor it.  If you’re 8 or 9 years old, just being at the game is showing up.

Showing up as a writer is a little harder.

Tonight I didn’t want to show up.  I just wanted to go to bed.  But all the writers I respect say I have to show up every day.  Tired, sick, sore, apathetic, or uninspired, I have to show up every day.  So here I am.  I showed up.  I got here.  I made it.

That wasn’t the case most of the day.  I didn’t get much writing done today because I didn’t get up, or at least I didn’t get up early enough.  There were things happened that I didn’t expect and other things I did.  But, good reasons or bad, I didn’t show up today. 

Tomorrow I want to show up.  In order to do that, I have to get up…early.  I need to be up by 5:00.  I would even settle for 5:30, or maybe 6:00, if I work quickly.  But I need to make sure my alarm is set (it is) and that I go to bed early (I will). 

So tonight’s blog will be short and quick. 

I’m fortunate, because I look forward to getting up in the morning.  I look forward to my days.  I look forward to spending every moment I can with my Muse.  I also look forward to living in our house on the beach.

But I have to show up.

It’s not going to magically appear. 

I have to show up.  I have to sit here in our chair and do my work.

And that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow morning…at 5:00 a.m.

I’m going to show up.  I’m going to Get Started and Keep Going and show up.