Curtiss Ann Matlock » blogging http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com an author's eye on writing and life. Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:48:43 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ en hourly 1 http://www.gravatar.com/blavatar/ce4245b333c50999767c819d5fa0b501?s=96&d=http://s.wordpress.com/i/buttonw-com.png Curtiss Ann Matlock » blogging http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com The Dog Can’t Kill It http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/the-dog-cant-kill-it/ http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/the-dog-cant-kill-it/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:24:24 +0000 CurtissAnn http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/the-dog-cant-kill-it/ ]]>

Grandmother’s RoseGrandmother’s RoseGrandmother’s RoseI have a rosebush that my grandmother started from a twig she plucked from a bush at her mother’s home some sixty years ago.  When we sold my grandmother’s home, I dug up that very same bush and hauled it eighteen hundred miles to plant at my home, where it has flourished. I keep starting new bushes from it, and last spring I took one of those little beginners a thousand miles to plant at my son’s new home. The small thing instantly began growing with pretty shoots and verdent green leaves, which son’s dog promptly chomped off. Eventually the dog ate the entire bush– yes, thorns and all–right down to the ground! Now the dog is gone (She tended to want to chew on neighbors and delivery people, too, so a new home with a fence had to be found.) and, if you look closely at where the bush is planted, you can see the promise of green life stirring yet again.

 That’s me and this blogging site. Each time I put forth a new piece of writing here, along comes life and chomps me right off.  Such is the way with any good endeavor, anything that is creative in nature. Resistance, Steven Pressfield names it in his book, The War of Art, saying that the more important the action is to our particular soul’s growth, the more Resistance we will encounter while we pursue it. He capitalizes Resistance, giving it personification.

There is always another chance…This thing called failure is not the falling down but staying down.   — Mary Pickford

The thing is to keep getting up and trying again. You will get somewhere, and very often it is far further and in a direction more grand than you ever imagined. My efforts at this blog have led me to decide to install a blog at my own url. Easy everyone said. Ha! But, oh, what an adventure! And often I think of that little rosebush, and smile.

]]> http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/the-dog-cant-kill-it/feed/ 0 CurtissAnn Grandmother’s Rose Grandmother’s Rose Grandmother’s Rose Jumping in Again http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/jumping-in-again/ http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/jumping-in-again/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:48:29 +0000 CurtissAnn http://curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/jumping-in-again/ ]]>

Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory. — Mahatma Gandhi

Well, here I am, jumping in to the blogging world again. One thing about life, as long as we’re breathing, we can begin again.

I started this blog back in February but ended up abandoning it after a few posts. There were a number of reasons, and they all added up to frustration beyond my level to struggle through. In all due respect to Gandhi, I find there is one more stage for me in the journey to accomplishment, and that is to get all aggravated at the struggle and to set the work aside, while I go on and do some things that are needing to be done, and are definitely more enjoyable in the doing. For a long time I used to feel badly about this habit, however, time has shown this way of working to be helpful to me. I have learned the value of taking a break, of resting and getting a second wind. Without fail I come back with a new perspective on my difficulties, and I run right through to the victory.

Years ago, when I was working on the final pages to a book, I fell into a frenzied panic because my brain simply would not think of how to wind up the plot. I sat at the computer, attempting to force myself through. At that moment, I received a telephone call from a neighbor. In the course of our conversation, I broke into tears and told her my problem. “I just can’t get it,” I wailed. “I can’t figure out the scene.”

She replied calmly, “Go out to the garden. Pick tomatoes.”

“I can’t do that!” I sobbed harder. “I have a deadline! I have to get this done!”

To which she said, “You are not doing it sitting there forcing it. Go out to the garden. Relax the rest of the day.”

I felt a failure to abandon the struggle. Wasn’t that giving up? Didn’t that mean I was licked? How could I face giving up? But, exhausted, I did what she suggested. The next day, rested at least somewhat, I started to work again at the computer. To my delight, the scene fell into place quite easily. Valuable lesson learned.

There will be struggles, yes. But there will also be a time when the best thing you can do is abandon the struggle. By abandoning struggle, you give yourself the opportunity to rest, relax, reflect. Go on and do other things. Wait until the time is right. Then jump in again and see how it goes. There is no such thing as wasted time. We learn from the struggle, and we learn when we abandon it, too.

So, here I go again….

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