Expectations

Today's quote was: "High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation." - Charles Kettering

Heck, I'd even delete Kettering's use of the word 'high'. It's superfluous. Let's leave it at: Achievement takes place in a framework of expectations.

Expectations are the birthing ground of achievement. Let's think about that for a second as it relates to writing. If a writer expects to write a book - not just thinks about it, or wants it, or dreams about it, but expects it - chances are pretty good the writer is going to get it done. If a writer expects to secure an agent, it's going to happen. And if a writer expects to be published, it WILL happen.

None of this is just going to happen because he expects it will, but the expectation comes from somewhere, doesn't it? Behind that expectation is the drive to make it happen. This isn't like expecting a package from your grandma, or expecting that it's going to rain. This is an expectation whose fruition is entirely up to the achiever.

If the expectation falters, the achiever adjusts to make it happen. The achiever doesn't watch twenty-five rejections come in, and just keep sending out the same old query. The achiever doesn't sit idly by and wait. The achiever acts. Maybe he re-writes his query. Perhaps he polished his manuscript. Whatever it is, it is action of some sort. Achievement demands action. Definitely, whatever else he does, he writes more and more, getting better with each word laid down in his manuscript.

This goes back to what I've begun to refer to as Brennan's Rule: "We continue writing even in the face of rejection. We continue growing even when we’re told we write garbage. We write because that is who we are. We have the WILL." (From Allison Brennan's post - I WILL)

Why do we have the WILL? Because no matter how hard this road is and no matter how discouraged we may get, we all fully expect to achieve our goal of being published. And we WILL.

Now, stop reading blogs and get back to work. I expect it... Don't you?