Do you have what it takes? The elusive quality that is required to achieve your goals and realize your dreams?

I am not talking about talent or creativity; plenty of people are oozing with that. It isn’t just having a vision or a plan either. No, I am talking about a very rare characteristic. Not everyone has it. I am talking about the inner pit bull to bite down, latch on with all your might and not let go.

Persistence. That’s what I’m talking ‘bout. Because that is the struggle.

It’s easy to be creative, to have a flash of inspiration, to START a project, but the lack of tenacity is what will doom you to failure. And when I say failure, I mean ultimate failure. We all fall down. We all have setbacks. But the difference between the people who get up, dust themselves off and go at it again and those who give up is not even measurable.

Persistence is not a gift. It is a skill. And isn’t even a skill that you ever really master, either. It is one you have to earn every day, over and over again.

To be honest, I struggle with it, especially as a writer…especially lately. It actually takes a lot of effort for me to move from my bed to my desk, sit down and write every day and I hate to confess, I have not been very consistent with that lately.

For inspiration, I look to runners.

I admire runners, especially marathon runners and tri-athletes. First of all, they do something that I will never do in this lifetime. Run. I will walk. Very rarely I will jog…one block…then walk again. The mere thought of running makes my side hurt. I don’t like the impact. I don’t like feeling myself jiggle that much. I hate the pain.

Runners are the most persistent people on the planet. They aren’t just running in races. They run every freakin’ day! They run in the rain, in the cold, in the heat! And it isn’t just about the glory of winning the race, or just finishing the race, or even beating their best time from the last race. And besides the pay off of a kickass body, I just don’t get it. But they do it--with insane, enthusiastic persistence.

So as I look over at my laptop, sitting cold on my desk, I think of those nutty runners and crack my knuckles. (Actually…no I don’t…knuckle cracking freaks me out…but you know what I mean.)

I have a second book to write over there. I have only finished one book, and my vision for this story is three of them. I am only 8.73 miles in my personal marathon. And yes, the chapter I am on right now is like Mt. Everest, but I am going to sit down and make that mountain my bitch. And I am going to do it with a crazy endorphin-induced smile on my damn face!

Shannan

We live in the fiction.