R-E-S-P-E-C-T

A Cherokee Legend

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

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This legend can be applied to our writing.
 
If your lives are anything like mine, you're pulled in 99 jillion directions every day. Someone needs this, you promised that, you must go here, you want to go there. Family. Friends. Responsibilities. And somewhere in all the hubbub comes the time we need to commit to our writing.
 
We need to feed what we want to nurture.
 
If we want to nurture our social lives, we go out, make friends, visit, party, mingle.

If we need to nurture our health, we pay extra attention to diet, exercise, and all the things the doctors tell us we need to do.
 
If our writing is what we choose to nurture, we need to give it the same respect we give to other areas of our lives.

Watch one less sitcom or news program and you gain thirty minutes of writing time. One night a week serve something pre-prepared for dinner and you gain at least another thirty minutes. Play one less game of solitaire. If time is your enemy, review your schedules.

Don't toss your new idea into a corner and let it gather dust. Put it on a pedestal. Talk to it. View it from all sides, top, and bottom. Play with it. Feed and water it. With attention and care from you, those ideas will grow of their own accord. If you have a problem getting from concept to completion, spend more time with your ideas.

Bottom Line? Respect.

Respect your ideas. Your ideas will respect you.

Respect your time. When you allow yourself to make time for your writing, those in your life will show more respect for your work and more respect for the choices you make.

It comes back to you. You have to be the strong one.

Respect is earned.