*This is the month in creating writing goals and making big accomplishments. What is your greatest accomplishment -- in writing, your life or perhaps something incidental that had a big effect on you?
Above is the latest blog chain question, brought to us by Michelle Hickman. It is a BIG question and it has led me to some deep thoughts, and these deep thoughts have in turn led me to Miley Cyrus. Yes, that's right, I said Miley Cyrus. I know, I know, it was an unexpected turn for me too.
The thing is when I started thinking of trying to name my one biggest accomplishment, I went through all the usual suspects.
Getting $5000 from my film school to make a short film that I'd written.
Meeting my wonderful husband and quietly stalking him until he succumbed to my many charms.
My two incredibly naughty, but also insanely wonderful children.
Finishing three novels.
Finding an agent.
Getting a two book deal with HarperTeen.
These are the big moments. The ones you can point out and easily identify. I love these moments. And I would like many more of these celebratory let's buy some champagne moments. But in between these highs were the lows.
Rejection. Uncertainty. More Rejection. And worst of all - morning sickness.
And that's when a certain song came into my head. It's a song that has made me flip to a radio station playing commercials when it came on just to avoid listening to it one more time. And yet I have to admit that the lyrics - as cheesy and unoriginal as a Velveeta between Wonderbread - really hit the spot for me at this exact moment trying to answer this exact question. And so I'm gonna let Miley finish out this blog post for me - cause she has already sung exactly what I want to say.
The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on
'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!
And just in case the song is not stuck in your head - here's the video too! Feel free to grab a hair brush and sing along.
Want to hear about more amazing accomplishments? Make sure to check out Matt's post prior to mine and Cole's immediately after.
*BTW the mountain in this pic is Mount Everest. You want to hear about some uphill battles? Read some books about trying to climb Everest. On the way up to the top climbers pass by the dead and frozen bodies of climbers that have been there for years or even decades because it is just too difficult to bring them back down. Now my own personal policy is that if I am going somewhere and there is more than one dead body along the way - I should probably turn back. But the people climbing Everest do the opposite - they just keep going up - despite the dead bodies, despite the cold, despite the thin air. It is kind of nuts. But also really interesting. If you want to read more I highly recommend checking out Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. High Crimes by Michael Kodas is also an excellent Everest based read.
