Day 249, September 6

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” Woody Allen

I'll admit it: I'm not a Woody Allen fan, but I like the sentiment behind this quote. I like the acknowledgement that failure is an inevitable part of trying. I like the idea that failure is not only all right but is also acceptable.

Writers get accustomed to failure. (We call it rejection.) Rejections used to come in the mail in SASEs. Now they come via email. However they arrive, they come with depressing regularity for some of us.

Most, if not all of us, have experienced some kind of failure or rejection. Sometimes what we perceive as failure is really not failure at all. Sometimes it is just the natural consequences of living in this mortal world. Sometimes the feelings we label as failure are caused by the insensitivity of others, such as an unappreciative boss or ungrateful child.

Whatever the causes of these feelings, we can keep trying. I am the poster child of "keeping trying." I keep trying in my writing. I keep trying in being a wife and a mother and a grandmother. I keep trying in being a friend. I keep trying in being a daughter of God. Sometimes, I succeed; sometimes, I fail.

So, for today, I am grateful for opportunities to keep trying.