Monday, July 28, 2008

Blocking Out the Consequences

"Courage is the ability to block out consequences and do what you think you have to do."
Glenn Fitzpatrick, Esquire general
manager, in an essay on his life with Lou
Gehrig's disease

Gandhi said something similar: forget the fruits of your labors, simply do the work and then step back.

How to step back? Not so easy. But I find that the intention itself takes me a long way toward that goal.

What this all translates to for me is: writing without worrying about whether the piece is going to sell. Curiously, satisfyingly, I find writing that way has turned out more easily saleable work.




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4 comments:

Mojo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mojo said...

That's not so surprising really. the "work" that we do for its own sake is usually superior to the work that we do strictly for remuneration (monetary or otherwise). Which by definition should make it more saleable.

But that's not always so easy to remember when there are bills to pay, na?

On a strictly self-promotional (albeit tangentially related) note, you might recognize the significance of the first of these two photographs I've posted for the "Wordless Wednesday" photo meme. Enjoy!

Mojo said...

On another note, I'm trying to spread some love around today. Maybe this falls in the category of "self-promotion", but really I'm just trying to gather some good karma for a friend who could really use it right now.
Can you take a moment to visit here and share some?
shukriya.

Peggy Payne said...

Hey, Mojo, nice pictures. Thanks for the alert.

I'm glad you're using this space to get more attention to your work.

And best wishes to your friend and her family at hospice.