Resilience is a natural outcome of sequential failures while striving towards an ultimate goal. Or, as Nikola Tesla famously said it, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
And, so have I, upon occasion. Fortunately, using digital media to type out my poems and blog posts saves me from having to frequently empty a garbage pail overflowing with waded up paper.
I’ve sometimes wondered just how high the heap would be in I had only availed myself of composing on disposable material instead, or how many bottles of correction fluid I might have emptied.
Recognizing failures and analyzing why they fail is key to growth. Losses can lead to success, eventually, providing one continues unabated at some point. Ah, but therein lies the precious key.
Growth requires patience and not a heavy, diligent hand. Whenever I encounter an impasse in my writing, especially one that really wracks my brain, I save it, close the program and walk away.
I have sometimes spent years on a poem, approaching it from a different angle, failing to resolve it, filing it away, and even rewriting it all over again. It feels like failure each time, but I keep at it.
Perhaps a piece requires room to germinate. Or could it be that I need to wait while my skills mature a bit more. Occasionally, I’ll read some excellent poetry to stimulate a broader scope of things.
Over these many years of writing rhyming, metered verse, I’ve learned to recognize when it’s simply time to stop. I do this out of respect for the piece rather than rushing it into a finished form.
Failing is generally part and parcel of achieving just about anything we hope to accomplish well. So excuse me while I pick myself up, dust myself off, and have another go at another poem.
Image: huffingtonpost.co.uk
And, so have I, upon occasion. Fortunately, using digital media to type out my poems and blog posts saves me from having to frequently empty a garbage pail overflowing with waded up paper.
I’ve sometimes wondered just how high the heap would be in I had only availed myself of composing on disposable material instead, or how many bottles of correction fluid I might have emptied.
Recognizing failures and analyzing why they fail is key to growth. Losses can lead to success, eventually, providing one continues unabated at some point. Ah, but therein lies the precious key.
Growth requires patience and not a heavy, diligent hand. Whenever I encounter an impasse in my writing, especially one that really wracks my brain, I save it, close the program and walk away.
I have sometimes spent years on a poem, approaching it from a different angle, failing to resolve it, filing it away, and even rewriting it all over again. It feels like failure each time, but I keep at it.
Perhaps a piece requires room to germinate. Or could it be that I need to wait while my skills mature a bit more. Occasionally, I’ll read some excellent poetry to stimulate a broader scope of things.
Over these many years of writing rhyming, metered verse, I’ve learned to recognize when it’s simply time to stop. I do this out of respect for the piece rather than rushing it into a finished form.
Failing is generally part and parcel of achieving just about anything we hope to accomplish well. So excuse me while I pick myself up, dust myself off, and have another go at another poem.
Image: huffingtonpost.co.uk
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