IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED....

It is a nursery school rhyme, but more than that, it is an antidote for hard times which every great person has had to resort to.

My first attempt at writing a book was a disaster. When I sent a draft copy to my editor, I got a bit more than I bargained for. She offered me some very scathing criticism of my work and said to me: ‘please don’t be one of those hungry authors’. [Yuck!] Bitter, very bitter. I was scalded, my ego was bashed. I couldn’t pick up the courage to write again for a long time and I vowed not to show my editor anything I write in future.

When I completed the draft for ‘What The Blind Girl Saw’ however, it was to her sent it and it was for the same reason for which I had vowed not to. I realized her view though critical were objective and that made me able to trust her assessment, so to her I sent my manuscript again.

True to herself, she gave me a truthful, objective critique of the book. And it was positive. In fact it was her assessment of it that gave me the first clue that the book will be a winner. And it is!

I could have taken her first comment as a final verdict and conclude that I couldn’t be a great writer – and I almost did. I would never have written again. The world would have missed my flavor and I would have failed to realize what I was capable of as a writer.

I’m glad I tried again. And I am still trying. With more books in the offing and more grounds to cover I am so grateful for the nursery rhyme: TRY AGAIN

That you didn’t do it well the first time does not mean you can’t do it, you are just in the process of learning to do it better. If you didn’t come first the first time, it is because you are learning to be first, don’t allow your ego and distractions that comes with loosing, failing and not winning, steal away from you your possibility for a victory.

Try again. Take that step again, pick up that manuscript again, try blogging again [I tried eight times before I found my footing as a blogger], register for that course or program again, try asking that lady out again, or ask another lady out…. Do something again, do it differently if you have to, but by all means try again! Don’t give up. From the ashes of previous failure, build an edifice of success. Don’t waste your failed attempts, they are just as important as your victory, an integral part of your success story.

Try again! Keep trying till victory!