Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thursday Thirteen - 32 - Eye on The Prize

Many bloggers are taking part in NaNoWriMo this month (as I am, unofficially - I haven't got Microsoft Word in my new computer and thus no way to tally a word or page count! Working on that, though.) At this point many writers have tippy-tapped their way to almost 40,000 words. The 50,000-word finish line is so tantalizingly close.

Yet this is the point where we all have to push through the burn. Big problem for me - I'm at the point where generally in a non-time-crunch situation, I would take a few days and let the plot settle itself in my subconscious for a bit. Walls have been slammed into. Plotlines have galloped their way right over the cliff.

This Thursday Thirteen is for all of us who have our eye on the prize - the high of doing something completely insane like writing half a book in one month.

And not only that. People sell these things! Like Amy just did!



1 - "Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night."
- Glade Byron Addams









2 -"There are only two words that will always lead you to success. Those words are yes and no. Undoubtedly, you’ve mastered saying yes. So start practicing saying no. Your goals depend on it!"
- Jack Canfield


3 - "When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as they were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs.

"Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down."
- Pierce Vincent Eckhart


4 -"Obstacles are like wild animals. If they see you are afraid of them...they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight."
- Orison Swett Marden











5 -"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
- Winston Churchill


6 - "When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on, or we will be taught to fly."
- Patrick Overton








7 - "You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."
- Friedrich Nietzsche


8 - "Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time."
- T. S. Elliot









9 - "As poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense. Long distance runners know this instinctively. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with such effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being - a call that asks who they are."
- David Blaikie

10 - "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing."
- George Bernard Shaw


11 - "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
- Henry David Thoreau







12 - "The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
- Charles DuBois
















13 - "Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."
- Arnold H. Glasow

23 comments:

Camille Alexa said...

There's a portion of the world which lives without wordcount capacity? I had no idea.

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Not willingly, I assure you!

Gattina said...

Very interestin quotes ! I had to laugh about the last picture it was once the background of a blog friend, lol !

Danika Dinsmore said...

Great quotes and I love the jet-pack penguin.

I had never heard #13 before, that's great.

You set yourself on fire! I'm cheering from the side-lines.

(if I weren't moving this month, I might have joined you all...)

I'm sure you could e-mail your work to someone to put it in a Word doc and get a count for you.

BTW - I am so sorry I haven't mailed your poetry packet yet. It has been traveling all around town in my book bag. I promise it will get to you before Christmas! Haha.

“Once you know what you want, ask yourself, ‘Why Not Me?’ Why shouldn’t you be the one who achieves your goals and lives your dreams?” - Rudy Ruettiger

Anonymous said...

There has been some very wise people through history. Another great post, Julia :-)

Darla said...

Great quotes--very inspiring! Good luck with the book--it's not the precise word count that's the important part. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Julia!! Very motivating, especially as we near the final week of NaNo.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

I'm relating to a lot of these, Julia. Thanks.

I'd love to try that Boy Scout thing. It really speaks volumes.

Aline de Chevigny said...

LOL Lovely TT, and yes I'm a NANOer hehe Code name Adeche - I'm at 34K and climbing. I haven't failed NANO yet darnit and I don't plan on startign now.

Glad you enjoyed my TT. Happy Thanksgiving.

Aline

Akelamalu said...

Interesting quotes Julia. :)

Akelamalu said...

PS I've posted the first of my Christmas Carols quizzes today if you fancy having a go. :)

Amy Ruttan said...

Poor you with out word count. How do you survive?

Jill said...

#8 summarise most of the time I was not in class during my university's years!!
Fun Quotes!

Unknown said...

Inspiring quotes Julia. Thank-you.

Unknown said...

Love the quotes. And I am crazy about my word count, but it helps to keep me going. I'm so close now...

Holly said...

Nice quotes! I do a daily inspiration post each day and I'll have to use some of these.

Keep writing!

Happy TT-13 and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Smiles,
Holly
http://theabundanceplace.com

Raggedy said...

Great post!
Congratulations on your writing!
I am barely keeping up with the NaBloPoMo and that is just doing a post a day! I commend anyone who can do what you are doing! I hope yours will be a best seller!
Happy belated Birthday to you!
Thank you for your visit on my birthday post.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Happy TT'ing!

Gattina said...

Re : Thanksgiving in Canada.
I knew that your Thanksgiving was in October but forgot to mention "and a late Thanksgiving" for Canadians. I put you in the same pot ! Sorry for that. But the Americans are making such a fuzz about Thanksgiving day and all blogs are full of recepes, pictures and good wishes (Canadians are fare more descret) that for me as an Eurpean and not used to proclaim all our national holidays it's quite confusing, lol !

Red Garnier said...

Oh I LOVED this, Julia. And Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate. ;)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Boy...These are ALL Wonderful quotations! I LIKE THEM ALL!

Much great good luck on your Novel...How exciting that ANY(?)? Sold her book from last year! THat is amazing and wonderful!

Thanks so very much for coming by and commentng...I really appreciate it and I thank you so very much!

Leah Braemel said...

Ooh, good post! I'm going to have to remember some of those quotes. For some reason, #4 really jumped out at me.

Wylie Kinson said...

Wonderful quotes Julia - inspiring and wise.
That wolf pic is so cool!

Karina said...

Very inspiring stuff...as always Julia, you dig out the right words at the right times. I'm sure many NaNoers appreciated these quotes!