Without writers the evening could not have happened. And many different kinds of writers were honored. While we may not know the history of any of them, we know they did not get where they were last night on the basis of "a first piece of work." While love of their medium may have been the motivation for some, persistence was needed for all of them. This includes as well, the writers responsible for the gala that was The Academy Award ceremony.

Whatever writing you do, a lesson to be learned from the Academy Awards of 2010 is to "keep going with your writing." Don't give up. The writer of the screenplay of The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal, says he did not expect or even have as a goal the receiving of an Oscar. He won best original screenplay. Good things can come to those (writers) who do the right (write) thing.

Bode Miller had considered giving up Olympic skiing at least once that was reported in the news.
"Four years after failing amid lofty expectations at the Karin
Games and a year after practically walking away from the
sport, Miller won the super-combined for his third medal
in as many events at Vancouver." (AP, Andrew Dempf, 2/22)

Joannie Rochette lost her 55 year old mother and major supporter of her Olympic skating yesterday in a sudden heart attack. Joannie is on the ice today. Many say they believe that Joannie is keeping on because she and her mom were so close and the Olympics was a goal they had together. And so Joannie was honoring it. Psychologically, carrying on is a way to keep her mom alive.

Of late I've written a great deal about taking writing breaks. Nor would I back off from the importance of doing that. But, as these two stories indicate, it's necessary as well to not give up. We many never know the true motivation that kept Bode Miller and Joannie Rochette in action. But, whatever it is, it is deeply inside of them. And, our writing runs deeply inside of us writers. It is evidenced if not in our writing, then in our thoughts about writing. I have never taken a writing break where I had not been thinking about writing. And, I have found that to be the case for writers I know and writers I've worked with.

We can stop and question our motivation. It's natural. And, at these times, our well honed perseverance carries us through if not in action, then in thoughts.