First of all, thanks to all my new followers from the campaign and for all the wonderful comments on my flash fiction post!
Alrighty, with that statement out of the way, I can tell you some exciting news! I have a skating competition tomorrow! (In case you didn't know, yes I'm a figure skater.) I usually don't get nervous until I'm actually at the ice rink, awaiting my turn to be called in front of the judges, but I'm not exactly sure how prepared I am for this one. I've got two jumps in there that I can't land consistently and a spin that doesn't exactly spin very well. So, with that being said, yes, maybe I am a little nervous right now.
I'm not really someone that preforms well under pressure either. My knees get a little shaky and I constantly feel like I need to take a trip to the bathroom. Not to mention, the past few weeks I've been much more interested in my writing than in my skating (which I guess isn't a terrible thing because writing is my first favorite thing ever), but it isn't so good if I want to have a winning chance.
So, I'm sure you've made this conclusion already, but no, I'm not exactly prepared for this competition. I've got a little bit of an idea of the people I'll be competing against, but to be honest, I could lose miserably, or take first place. I've got no clue how this is going to play out.
And here comes the catch. Maybe I'm not the most physically prepared person there. But from a mental perspective, I very well could be. Not because I can land my jumps or do my spins, but because I'm prepared to lose. I'm prepared to skate hard then walk away with nothing but a green ribbon saying "Honorable Participant". And I can be happy with that.
How can we take this into writing perspective? Well, we need to be prepared. We don't exactly know what we're up against. We could luck out with our manuscripts, and just happen to send it to the right place, reaching the right person at the right time! And that's awesome! But more often than not, we get a nice rejection letter (if we're lucky).
Writing can be rough and sometimes even ruthless. But we can be tougher than that! We've got to look beyond rejection and see that it's all part of the journey. People will knock us down and honestly not like what we write. But what matters, is that we'll get back up and try again! And sometimes, getting that rejection can make getting published in the future all worth while!
Have a great weekend!
--Jess
P.S.
I updated my 'Poetry' page so it's got all of my recent poems. I also got a few new story ideas, so I'm excited!
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| Me and Alyss after one of our many competitions! |
I'm not really someone that preforms well under pressure either. My knees get a little shaky and I constantly feel like I need to take a trip to the bathroom. Not to mention, the past few weeks I've been much more interested in my writing than in my skating (which I guess isn't a terrible thing because writing is my first favorite thing ever), but it isn't so good if I want to have a winning chance.
So, I'm sure you've made this conclusion already, but no, I'm not exactly prepared for this competition. I've got a little bit of an idea of the people I'll be competing against, but to be honest, I could lose miserably, or take first place. I've got no clue how this is going to play out.
And here comes the catch. Maybe I'm not the most physically prepared person there. But from a mental perspective, I very well could be. Not because I can land my jumps or do my spins, but because I'm prepared to lose. I'm prepared to skate hard then walk away with nothing but a green ribbon saying "Honorable Participant". And I can be happy with that.
How can we take this into writing perspective? Well, we need to be prepared. We don't exactly know what we're up against. We could luck out with our manuscripts, and just happen to send it to the right place, reaching the right person at the right time! And that's awesome! But more often than not, we get a nice rejection letter (if we're lucky).
Writing can be rough and sometimes even ruthless. But we can be tougher than that! We've got to look beyond rejection and see that it's all part of the journey. People will knock us down and honestly not like what we write. But what matters, is that we'll get back up and try again! And sometimes, getting that rejection can make getting published in the future all worth while!
Have a great weekend!
--Jess
P.S.
9 comments:
First of all, much luck to you in the competition! One of my very good friends was a figure skater until she graduated college (I think she only taught the last few years, though). It's fun. I'm glad you may be prepared to lose. That's a good thing to have, and I think it is a good analogy to compare it to writing. Writers DO have to be prepared for the worst and the best. Wouldn't it be nice if it were all so simple?
So, let us know how the competition goes!
Good luck! In our family, we're b-ball players, no skaters, but we always say, go big or go home--meaning, don't play it "safe," give it all you've got and walk away knowing you did your best, win or lose.
I'm sure you'll do great.
Good luck skating, Jess! I'm sure you'll do your best!
Good Luck, Jess! And have a great weekend!
Good luck can't wait to see how you do!!
I think you've just defined "the joy of doing," rather than "the joy of winning." Best wishes for a successful competition. I theatre we say, "break a leg." In skating do you say "chip the ice?"
Hi, Just dropping in to say hi from the campaign. You must have joined the poetry group after I finished doing the rounds last week.
I also like to write poetry. My poetry (and other work) can be found in my website:
http://joanna77.vpweb.co.uk and I also have a sort of writers journal/blog which is http://joanna77juliet.wordpress.com
I look forward to getting to know you better during the campaign
Hi! I'm just stopping in from the Campaign, it's taken me a while to get through all the blogs in each group I joined, but I'm finally getting there!
I hope you did wonderfully at your competition, and that whether you placed or not that you were proud of your performance! I wanted to be a figure skater when I was young(er), but we could never afford lessons, so I keep telling myself that one day after hubby and I are rich I'll take lessons just for fun. We'll see how that goes :)
Good luck with both your writing and your skating, and I can't wait to get to know you better during the campaign!
You have a lot of spark in you, and awesome go getter. And you two look adorable all dressed for competition. I hope you did well. :)
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