In Praise of Persistence

Recently hubby and I had the honor and pleasure of attending a concert featuring Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. In my opinion, those gentlemen are solid examples of musical talent. From the first round of thunderous applause when they walked across the stage and took up their respective instruments and places, to the final standing ovation, I admired each musician for his talent and ability to withstand the test of time. Ringo Starr, Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart, Billy Squier, Colin Hay, Gary Wright and Gregg Bissonette have each carved a lucrative career as a performing artist for three decades or more. Difficult and praise-worthy feats. I’ve many of the albums those guys released in past decades, and they sounded every bit as good live now as they did when recorded twenty or more years ago. How many persons involved in the creative arts can claim the same and continue earning a consistent living despite sagging economic times, various changing demographics and consumer-driven marketplace fluctuations?


When you get to the creative core, authors are no different than the folks who command a concert stage. We are faced with many of our own challenges including reader demands, the loss of independent bookstores, increased competition with our peers, market changes and so many other issues beyond our control. All we can do is write the best books we know how at any given point and keep honing our craft every day. By regularly flexing our writing muscles, we have a better chance of completing manuscripts, for without those manuscripts, we won’t have careers. Despite the popularity of a certain genre at a given time, one thing is certain—readers remain loyal to their favorite authors. The trick is consistently delivering the creative product for reader demand, but talented and tenacious authors do this time and again. And unlike coaxing notes from an instrument, we authors must coax ideas from our brains. Quite a daunting task.

From the moment I first sat down at my desk with the goal of writing toward publication, I vowed I’d learn something new and something writing-related every day. And I have. While I had no guarantee editors would embrace every story I wrote, I was determined I’d never allow rejections to hamper my course along the publication path. No creative person, no genius or prodigy, can claim they’ve achieved success with every endeavor. While there have been drastic changes in my life over the past year and a half, changes which could easily cause me to surrender my goals and dreams, I won’t let them. From this day forth, whenever life and the self-doubt demon threaten my writing schedules, or do their best at crippling my creativity, I’ll recall Ringo and his All-Starrs. The going is never easy for anyone—and if anyone ever tells me otherwise, I’ll not believe them for a nanosecond. Along with their successes, each of those All-Starrs—including their mega-famous headliner—was a part of a group that disbanded or endured a career that experienced a temporary lull. But each remained true to his love of craft and his desire to continue practicing the same. Creative passion emanated from every musician and filled the arena. Along with some of the authors who’ve been on my auto-buy list for a couple decades, those musicians are living testaments that tenacity and talent rock and rule. I’ll agree talent is subjective. What I deem talent someone else deems otherwise. Regardless, let’s give credit where credit is due. Anyone who can remain gainfully engaged in a career for twenty, thirty or more years is highly deserving of praise and serves as an inspiration. Long live Classic Rock and everyone’s creativity!

May your fondest dreams and goals become reality,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave
TORMENTED -- Coming soon to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace