My Path to Writing Excellence

In the midst of my current mental writing cramps, I rediscovered a cache of poems written a lifetime back. In reading through them, I concluded that I wasn’t much of a poet years ago yet occasionally I created a resonant verse. I also realized that the same disciplined determination for writing excellence must be applied to all forms of creative writing. Poetry, though, feels like doing pushups as compared to  the exercise demanded by my current novel, which is more in line with a marathon.

I’ve decided that I’m better off putting in the effort to write a decent poem than write nothing at all, especially in those moments that turn into hours, when I’m less inclined to write another page in my book. And, that in mind, I’m better off pushing myself to do another purposeful and even playful blog post than searching out vicarious life thrills on CNN.

Yes, I believe any exercise done well is far better than no exercise at all. Any writing I do that is focused on excellence moves me towards my summit.

How do you keep pushing towards writing excellence?

Here’s the link to my latest poem, “Sometimes They Smile”