Struggling Out of the Cocoon

Sometimes in this business, it's easy to get discouraged. Writers deal with rejection at all stages of their careers. And then there are the days filled with doubt which you have to battle through -- those days when you think life would be so much simpler if you could only give up your story habit.

But there's a dogged determination inside writers that keeps us going. Also, the knowledge that you'll go crazy if you're not writing (a fact my husband can attest to) and that eternal hope that around the next corner lurks the sale, the inspiration, or the whatever-you're-lacking-at-the-moment.

I've been thinking about this story I heard once:

A man watched a chrysalis struggling inside its cocoon. Worried about the creature, the man decided to cut it an escape hole and end the poor thing's suffering. Of course, the half-formed butterfly dropped out -- and without the strength to fly, died within minutes.

In writing and life -- the struggle makes us grow. Beating our wings against the obstacles makes us strong.

And all that testing prepares us to fly.