I have a bunch of stuff in my office that shows who I am. One of my recent additions is a tissue box that I bought at Goodwill. It's in the shape of three stacked books--War and Peace, Tom Sawyer and Moby Dick. How cool is that? I love it!

I also have a little metal grinning gat, about three inches high. He sits on the desk and his tail is a spring that you're supposed to stick a pencil in. He's a pencil holder, but I have a skinny makeup brush in there for his tail. It's lightweight, and if you put anything much heavier in there, he'll tip over. I paid 10 cents for him at an estate sale. What a deal.

My friend Denise gave me a cool notepad holder. It's ceramic and it's the Eiffel Tower. She knows I enjoyed Frank's and my trip to France a few years ago. The tower holds two pencils, and the sides hold two square erasers. There's a notepad on the front and one on the back. The notepad covers have miniscule maps of Paris on them. The pencils are also wrapped in that map paper. I won't ever use my Eiffel Tower supplies. Who'd want to ruin them? Too cute!

And I'll leave you with this newspaper clipping off my desk. I like to clip neat sayings and quotes, life lessons. This one was from a graduation speech. Apparently I clipped the author's name off it!

"Expect everything of yourself; there is no limit to what you achieve if you put no limits. Do not ever put any achievement out of your purview if it is something you might want. Keep your childhood dreams with you as an adult. They are a reflection of how your soul is trying to guide you in life. Failing is OK. If you try 10 times, you mail fail nine of them, but it is only the one success that counts. Use outward goals to direct your progress, but remember that ultimately, the path you take is more important than the end you reach."

Talent Versus Mediocrity

Procrastinating from finishing up Ch5 of my new manuscript. That involves working a few Dell Pencil Puzzles. My faves are the anacrostics. They're hard, though. Do you do puzzles? Do you do them in pen? I do. Sometimes, especially with the anacrostics, I have to write really dark over my mistakes!

I just finished a quotation puzzle with a great quote by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes.) Here it is: "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius."

Have you ever recognized genius in your field of pursuit? I have. I've picked up a book to read and gone, "Wow. This writer is great. What the heck am I doing, calling myself a writer? There's no way I can ever be this good."

On the flipside, have you ever known a very mediocre writer who thinks he or she is great? She typically either doesn't listen to critiques or makes excuses for why she isn't going to change her chapter (ex: "Everyone but one critiquer loved that little plot twist.") This type generally doesn't understand her rejection letters, either, and brushes them off with "Well, obviously the editor didn't get what I was trying to do." Instead, if she'd only listen to the editor's advice, she would improve her writing.

Egos are pretty powerful things. What is yours like? Are you talented but you feel mediocre next to genius, so you tell yourself, "I'll never be at that level" and don't bother to push yourself? Or are you mediocre, and happy with that? Whichever you are--talented or mediocre--what if we went to the next level? What if the talented writers pushed for genius level work, and the mediocre for talented? Man, could we ever put some powerful books out there!

How long did it take Edison to invent the light bulb? It took me fifteen years to sell a print book. Who knows what all I'll have learned in the next fifteen? Gee, I sure hope I've improved fifteen years' worth by then. ; )