INSPIRATIONAL SAYINGS

 . . .WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED?

I love inspirational sayings. I have one in my kitchen that states: Three wrongs don't make a right...but three lefts do. I'm looking at one right now for my writing: Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day... Most people don't see any. Do you use them to inspire you? Do you have one that you live by? Do you send them to friends you're thinking about?  The hosts of Get Lost in a Story hope to inspire you this year so we're sharing a little that inspires us. Let us know your favorite inspirational saying or quote for a chance to win the giveaway.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAM

I often feel as if my life's course goals change every day--certainly they do every year, and in the past five years--boy howdy! I had no idea that at my age (which is not insubstantial) I'd be learning the new things about writing--about life!--that I'm learning today. But in all the changes I think the most important thing I've learned is to believe in myself and the few talents I've gained. I have three favorite quotes that both inspire me and make me laugh/give me hope. 

 

Here's the first:

"We don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out."  This was the Decca Recording Company executive who rejected the Beatles in 1962. This always reminds me that I should write what I love and what I'm best at writing. Somewhere down the road, I will prove the naysayers wrong!

Here's the second:

"I don't write five words but that I change seven."  Dorothy Parker was known for her irreverence and snark, but I fully admit, this is my process completely. It's funny all right, but it's also taken me many years and fifteen books to accept that my messy process can't be altered. I am not a plotter--I need to fill my paper with a story and then change seven out of five words!

And the last--and one of my favorites:

"When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll be the Pope.' Instead, I wound up as a painter and became Picasso." -- Maybe this was Pablo Picasso bragging that he became the painters' equivalent of a general, but I don't know. To me this says--if you trust yourself and believe in yourself, you will be the very best you that it's possible to be. I would like to someday be the general, the Pope, the Picasso of me, Liz!

 

I hope everyone can learn to do her/his best and then live, laugh, love, and trust that it's everything you're meant to and want to be! 

LOVE YOUR LIFE

Like many folks, I have had my share of “re-inventing myself.” I like to call myself a renaissance woman having worked in a number of jobs since high school, from actuarial to insurance, from parenting to newspaper columnist, from book reviewer to author. Our lives are like a book, really…chapter by chapter we turn the pages, not always liking the challenges, the obstacles, having to sludge through the muck, and yet in the next moment enjoying the mountain-top moments with great zeal and joy! 

What I have learned, especially in this past year, is that life is short and it’s best lived when you recognize the importance of living in the present. Not the past, not the future—but the here and now. Life may not always be optimal, it may not be perfect, people will disappoint us, we may disappoint ourselves. But we can still love our life. 

Here is the inspiration that helps me to “love my life” with trust and gratitude (so important!) of who breathes life in me, who has given me the gifts I have to share. It is my favorite passage and I repeat it often, especially when I don’t “feel” like loving my life… “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer & supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts & minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

ALWAYS ROOM TO GROW

Life is full of twists and turns. Sometimes there are dead-ends, potholes, and detours. How we react to these unavoidable obstructions in the road of life influences the decisions we make, which in turn affect our future. We can choose to learn from the dead-ends, potholes, and detours of life, or ignore them. By ignoring them, we learn nothing and are poorer from the experience. 

By accepting and/or adapting to the changes that lay ahead, we grow. We learn to compromise by turning completely around when faced with a dead-end. We learn flexibility by dodging to the left or the right of a pothole. We embrace possibilities when we take the fork to the left: the tangled overgrown path. 

And like my favorite Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken, it will make all the difference. We can experience amazing growth, renewal of purpose, or even realize a new dream. By embracing it, we add another aspect to our collection of life lessons that ultimately help us grow as individuals. And remember, there is always room to grow!

DON'T GIVE UP

In most novels, protagonists share one thing in common. They refuse to give up on whatever goal they are pursuing. In fact, this is one crucial component of good storytelling. It gives us someone to cheer for and a sense that anything can be accomplished if we just figure out how. This common human trait could be called delusion, but I prefer to label it hope. 

We humans cannot exist on instinct. We are hardwired for community, we long to give ourselves to something or someone or some greater power, in our quest for meaning and immortality. If we give up on this quest, we give up on our humanity. That’s why it’s so important for us to tell each other stories about people who don’t give up. It shows the rest of us how to navigate the difficulties in life that slow us down or wound us or loom large as obstacles in our quest for survival with purpose and meaning.

For a time I worried that writing novels wasn’t actually giving much back to the world, but I’ve come to realize that’s not true. Storytelling is one of the greatest gifts given to man, and telling stories is an honor and privilege, which I don’t take for granted. I will never give up on becoming the best storyteller I can be, and through my stories stir the hope that is in our hearts, that divine spark that makes us human. 

IMAGINE

The last 12 months have been extra challenging. My mind has often felt clogged with chaotic and unproductive thoughts. Whenever that happens I try to remember Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “You are what you think all day long.” Then I tell myself to…close your eyes, remember to breathe, and imagine. See it in your head. Feel it in your heart. And if I do that enough times, I’m on my way to a better, more productive place—in my imagination and my life. 

What’s the “it”? I’m imagining the “it” can be anything. Hopes and dreams and goals for life and writing. I can imagine words, sentences, and scenes. I can imagine inciting incidents, challenges, successes, and dark moments. 

I can also imagine there’s always the potential for a happy ending because as William Arthur Ward said, "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it." ~ Jacqui

REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED

Most days this applies to just writing a book. In the beginning it always sounds great and I'm so excited to get started. I think most authors agree that it's the most fun part of the book to write. But then comes the middle and with that come the daily reminders that it isn't crap, that you are a good writer, that you've finished a book before AND that someone (even if it's just your mother) liked it. But this also applies to my writing career. Why did I start? Because I had a story to tell. AND...I'm not finished yet.

Let us know your favorite inspirational saying or quote for a chance to win the surprise giveaway.