Writing

Every Day Is An Opportunity To Learn Something New

Every day is not only a gift, but as far as I’m concerned, another day filled with plenty of opportunities to learn something new.  When I wake every morning and figure out what I want to do, or shall I say, accomplish that day, in the back of my mind I’m also thinking about what I want to learn on that day.

What I learn gets written in my notebook, things I consider interesting get photographed, and locations geotagged and mapped accordingly.  I use my blog/website to keep it all together and share it with the world.

Not that long ago, I published a book of poetry and sold a handful of copies; enough to make my parents proud, but too few to make a profit.  Poetry is a hard commodity to sell; writing, by its very nature is difficult to sell.  My next book is going to likely be non-fiction, that is of course if I ever get around to writing it!

When I write, I do so not in hopes of selling millions of copies and making a fortune, but rather as a labor of love, hoping that my words might one day become a contribution to society; a modern society that is overwhelmed with a constant flow of information of little or no literary value.

It saddens me that every time I read blogs on the Internet, most of the time the authors only write about things that nobody cares about.  All the cutting edge technology is available to just about anyone with access to the Internet and 90% of it is useless crap.  I like to think of myself as (hopefully) being somewhere with in that remaining 10%!

The writing world in some ways is like the Internet.  If an author gets their work published and becomes famous or successful from that one piece of work, readers expect that every subsequent piece thereafter will be just as good, if not better than the one before it.  If you are so lucky to have authored three or more successful books, others will look up to you, but as I mentioned earlier, one unsuccessful piece and you’ll be flipping hamburgers at a fast food joint with no chance of ever regaining your acclaimed status.  A pedestal is not an elevator.

27 Comments

  • conrad pranze villas

    We make our own destiny. Every day is a new opportunity to solve our problems. Life is hard, but it will be much harder if we do not do something about it.

  • Maury Cheskes

    Interesting to get an insider’s take on your process. I hope more people will take advantage of the viral audience online as well with meaningful work that speaks to people’s hearts. I think we all want to leave a bold legacy with out life pursuits.

  • Meldred Judith

    Life is unending learning. We are bound to learn new things in a thousand ways everyday. Even those bad things that happened has a lesson to learn.

  • Glad

    I agree, every day brings it’s own opportunity. It takes the grace to realise this and run with it, to be able to tap into the untapped and be successful while doing so.

  • David Tjoe

    Well, certainly every day is an opportunity, a second chance. An opportunity to continue learning to be the best version of yourself.

  • Alex

    I agree. Everyday is a chance to learn and do better. As a saying of a certain panda says Today is a gift that is why it is called the present. All that matters is how a person uses this gift to be better.

  • jolly555

    You are right on this, I have started learning how to learn a thing daily. I know it will help me grow

  • esgyll

    Writing, and loving writing – it is easily the bane of many people struggling to do what they can in order for their works to be recognized by a lot of people, and at the same time making them struggle in either staying true to the craft or just doing what they love.

    It is not a one size fits all thing for writers, which also leads to even more confusion and hesitation. Ideally, budding writers should be able to focus on their own brand of writing style, but they could also be easily influenced by and struggle to write like the famous writers they admire. It really isn’t something that could be called as a “balance” that everyone can do. But this is why continuous learning and education is very important. It is something that we should all deem as vital in our continued efforts to better ourselves.

  • Clarissa

    Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new and I thank God for it. Learning is a continuous process an unending learning.

  • Danielle M

    Great way of thinking Tom, for me every new day is an opportunity to achieve the things, I always take serious the fact that all I had is the present.

  • Prince

    The expectation people have on authors that has made it with few publications is so high that it kills the vibes. Any little flop, that’s just the end, it will take years to come back to fame. It never easy

  • Daphne

    I love the genuine passion you have for writing. You’re not after profits and that’s a good thing.

  • Louis

    I agree with you on the part about blogs writing about things no one cares about. Most of them are only driven by profits.

  • Anderson

    “When I write, I do so not in hopes of selling millions of copies and making a fortune, but rather as a labor of love.” Those are some of the most beautiful words I have ever read. Thanks so much for this.

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