Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The "F" word.

Yeah. I know what you're thinking so get your mind out of the gutter. I have used the word you're thinking of in a desperate moment of anger or frustration but that's not the word I'm going to talk about.

Fail.

It's quite a scary word at times, maybe dirty. We try to avoid at all costs but it's there waiting, possibly lurking next to the fruit bowl, ready to charge in.

It can happen in anything we do, at any moment. I think about it quite often and not only for my writing but for everyday life.

Will I fail as a wife?

Will I fail as a parent?

Will I fail as a human being?

Will I fail at opening the soup can?

The problem with fail is it has to happen in order for us to learn, to grow. I really don't like when it happens, in fact, most of my anxiety is due to worrying about failing. It has gotten better over the years. I'm more confident now than I was 10 years ago, but the thought of putting WiP#1 out there only to get nothing, stings. Of course, it's in no shape to go out into the wilderness, yet. I have to prepare myself that there will be a load of rejections and I have many more stories to tell. Yes, I have to rely on Opti for that one.

So, how do we cope?

We move on. Easy to say, right? Depending on how big the fail is--we may need to mope a little, eat a ton of chocolate then turn to our favorite alcoholic beverage before we can weed through and figure out what we can learn from it. I'm guilty of moping, big time, but I've learned to try to find something in it that I can learn from because if I don't, I will not be able to move forward.

I do worry about failing my goal in my passion for writing. I'm finally pursuing what I love so much and if I don't reach my goal, well it will hurt like hell, but I have to remind myself that living with regret is worse.

How do you handle the dreaded fail?

I'm going to move Writing the Next Line to Monday, October 11th. The hubs is off so I can leave it up for a few days.
I kept it short today to make up for my long winded Monday post.

Have a great day!