After a very long and torturous journey involving a four-hour drive and then an endless plane ride (but at least I didn't get stuck overnight in Houston) I made it home at 11 PM Friday night, which was 2 AM in the time zone I left that morning.
Fortunately, this was just in time to watch the Ducks football game on Saturday night at my sister's home theater set-up. They won, going to a 4-0 record befitting their #5 national ranking, despite the fact that my Lucky Duck shirt was in a box on its way home from Gatlinburg. The Lucky Duck shirt is an old faded shirt my daughter gave me to wear to a game last year and ever since the Ducks won that game it is a requirement that I wear it. If they are behind and I put it on, they start winning. It is quite glorious to have so much power over a football team and some day I know I will earn the thanks I deserve. However, even I will admit that I made a grievous error in sending the Duck shirt home in the box that won't arrive until this Wednesday. I made up for it by buying a brand new shirt and that seemed to do the trick.
Something I learned about the Ducks coach, Chip Kelly, resonated with me, and of course, writing. Chip's slogan is WTD, or Win the Day. His philosophy is to focus only on the game ahead of him, nothing else. Not the game coming up next week, or winning the Pac-10 conference, or going to the Rose Bowl. Just the current game. WTD. Worry about the game in front of you and winning it.
It is good to apply that kind of focus to your writing, too. Think about what you've decided to work on that moment, think about putting words on the page, nothing more. Don't think about how it compares to what you wrote yesterday, or how you should really be doing laundry. Refuse to ponder the odds of getting published. And whatever you do, don't traipse over to Facebook, Twitter, or your email inboxes to see what is up. WTWD. Win the Writing Day. Which you do by focusing on putting one word after another.
Image of the Oregon Duck by d70focus, from Everystockphoto.
Ledger D'Main
Something wrong with carpe diem? Or doesn’t the coach like fish?
Charlotte Dixon
I don’t think the coach knows Latin.
J.D.
Very good advice in the last paragraph, exactly what I need at this moment. I agree Chip Kelly is a genius. He sent Mazoli to us in the Southeastern Conference. The dude left his “go gear” in Eugene.
Charlotte Dixon
Yeah, I know we’re a little bitter about Mazoli, but he behaved very badly in Eugene so there wasn’t a lot of choice. I’m constantly reminding myself that all I need to do in my writing is win the day, nothing else.