Persistence Pays Off … Always!
“There is nothing in the world
that can take the place of persistence.”
There is much talk about the rewards of persistence. To a writer, there is no other characteristic so essential in the final conquest to success.
As Theodore Roosevelt so aptly put it:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
One of the best examples of a writer with a persistent nature has to be that of Pulitzer Prize author Frank McCourt. If you haven’t read his first book, Angela’s Ashes, I urge you to do so.
This book recalls vividly his destitute childhood in Limerick, Ireland. From the beginning, when the author states: “When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I managed to survive at all,” to his final arrival in America, his life goes beyond sheer determination and persistence. It dwells in the realm of miraculous human survival. Despite unthinkable poverty, squalor, and physical and emotional human suffering, McCourt’s persistent nature helped him realize his dream.
You might say that McCourt was a guy who had “pulled himself up by his bootstraps.” You might say that … but you would be wrong because, as a boy, he was lucky to have a pair of old shoes to wear, let alone boots.
So what helped him to succeed? What special quality did he have to fulfill his dream of going to America? What pushed him to write a book that was on the Best Seller list for nearly two years?
“Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Of course, the Frank McCourt story didn’t stop with one book. He went on to pen other great books, and at an age when most people give up and retire to Florida.
Persistence. Determination. A gallant achievement of will. When you read about the obstacles he had to overcome to merely survive, it should make us all ponder our own trivial setbacks.
Think about it: If this man could live through such adversity and then go on to have his books on the Best Seller list, then we should be able to cast aside our own petty problems and continue to put ink to paper.
I’ve often said the stairway to success ascends without a railing. So hold on to your innermost strengths and take one step at a time and you’ll make it to the top.
Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from writing. Believe in yourself. Believe you can succeed. Believe you will succeed … if you simply press on.
Frank McCourt is a good example of that.
