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When our parents become vulnerable…
When life hands you lemons…make chocolate cake & make them wonder.
Talent or persistence? That is the question.
When it comes to pursuing your dreams, what is more important…being talented or having persistence? Most would say that both are key to achieving one’s dream. I guess it all depends on what you’re striving for. For me as a screenwriter, you would think that having talent is way more crucial and I felt that way…21 years ago. With aspirations of becoming a screenwriter, I worked and slaved through countless of writing classes both in college and outside. Along the way I’ve met numerous people with the same aspirations, with differing degrees of talent but all with the same drive. I’ve gotten a chance to peruse their writing styles and felt quite intimidated to say the least. Seeing their words flow like art on paper made me feel like I had no business being in their league. Who was I to think that I could make it as a writer. Let me tell you, it was a bit disheartening at first, but it was something that I knew in my heart that I just had to do. I had the opportunity to meet a highly regarded and established screenwriter at a writing conference years and years ago; I’ll never forget what he said to all of us fledgling writers. He told us that the key to attaining our goal, while talent is important, is “persistence.” Some of the best writers he met while pursing his dreams were way more talented; but in the end, no matter what obstacle he faced, he was the victor because he was relentless in his pursuit of his dream. To this very day, those words are etched in my memory. I’ve been tirelessly writing, trying to better myself and my craft; I’m not the best writer in the world but I know for certain that I’m not the worst. I’ve even met up with some of those “aspiring writers” from my past and suffice to say, they are no longer in the game. Despite feeling inadequate about my writing ability, I was tenacious in my pursuit. So to answer the question “Talent or persistence?” , I’ll take persistence all the time. Although success has eluded me, I know that if I keep trudging on…one day it’ll happen. I can dream can’t I?
Feeling 19th Century in a 21st Century world
Is it just me or do you need an I.Q. of 150 or above to do things in the world we live in? I tell you, with the latest phones, TV’s, computer devices, you have to be a freakin’ whiz to just be able to operate them. It takes me a good week and a half to be able to properly become proficient on these tech things. I’m even trying to get a handle on creating a functional blog site. So much information overload, just so damn overwhelming. How do these young kids do it? I know it’s the norm for them but REALLY!? Just trying to catch up to these kids is a chore in itself. They soak up this world and everything it has to offer faster than the speed of light and instantly become an expert. If they were somehow transplanted back in the 19th Century, they’d probably be geniuses. Can’t complain though, I’m improving my knowledge and with a little luck I can hopefully someday feel like I actually belong in the 21st Century.
My First Blog post…
Well…it was inevitable that I would be like the millions of people around the world creating a blog site to post my opinions about life or some other random thing just for the sake of doing so. Is it therapeutic? Is it narcissism? Is it so that I can be just like the others? Or just 21st century marketing of my stories to the world to make my dreams of being a screenwriter come to fruition? Maybe it’s all of the above…who knows? All I know for sure is that it’ll be a new journey for me and whatever path this takes me down will be an adventure of itself. So I say to myself…“Let’s get started and enjoy the ride!”