Saturday, June 22, 2013

Writer’s Blog from Joyce’s client, bestselling author, Ace Collins (A condensed version of this blog was recently on the Christian Writer’s Guild website.)




WHO IS MY CAREER ROLE MODEL?
by Ace Collins

I was recently asked who was my career role model? I know the person who tossed that question my way certainly expected my answer to spotlight one of a few thousand bestselling, award-winning authors that I have followed and read over the years. Yet, my response likely created a bit of shock and surprise as I cited not a Twain, Hemmingway or Cussler, but rather a product of the famed Warner Bros. Studios and it wasn’t even a human. My role model was either born or created, that depends upon your viewpoint, on September 17, 1949. Much more than any writer I know, it is Wile E. Coyote who possesses the attributes needed by every author.

Wile E. is first and foremost inventive. He is constantly coming up fresh ideas to achieve his goals. He simply doesn’t stick to the same formula, but rather learns from his mistakes and moves forward with new approaches. He is not afraid of technology, but instead sees it as offering new and better ways of becoming more productive. He is therefore not stuck in the past but lives on the cutting edge.

Next Wile E. has such a strong desire to succeed that it allows him to overlook the obvious odds against him. Where others give up, he surges forward. He never takes his eye off the prize or allows a few failures to cause him to shift his career goals. He ultimately believes he will succeed.

Though Wile E. lives a fairly solitary existence that does not prevent him from consulting others as he looks to expand his knowledge and expertise. He not only seeks out the advice of the folks at Acme, but he had an extensive library that includes such works as How To Build a Burmese Tiger Trap, Hunting Birds, The History of Speed and How To Sail. In other words, he does his homework, he constantly studies and expands his mind and he is not afraid of teaming with others to reach his goals.

But maybe the most important thing I have learned from Wile E. is to never give up. He believes in his quest to the point where nothing will stop him. Therefore he will take risks that would seem completely illogical to a mathematical mind knowing that those risks often provide the greatest rewards and the best chance of finding true satisfaction. So he doesn’t see rejection as a sign of failure, but just another challenge to be addressed.

Anyone in the creative field is apt to experience far more failure than success. We crash and burn much more than those who stick to the normal routes through life. Yet if we truly believe in our message then we press forward because we feel our stories are worth all the pain experienced in trying to get them to the public. In other words, we are like that coyote who is constantly trying to capture the prize; even a lifetime of rejections can’t keep us from continuing to do what we feel called to do. And neither should a few rejections keep you from your calling either!

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