Okay, you knew it was coming. Well, maybe some of you didn't, but whatever. Let it be known that I'm a huge fan of American Idol. Many of my posts come from inspiration I get whilst watching that show.
So here's my first blog post that came from AI this year. So I was watching last week, and Randy said something along the lines of "Great is great, you just need to sing it greatly."
And dude!
That's writing right there.
Great is great. You just need to write it greatly.
I'm so going with that for my motto.
Stop the violins.
Write it greatly.
What's your motto? Do you have anything to add to mine? Something good happen to you? Someone you know? Lay it on me. I'm feeling the positivity today.
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62 comments:
I love American Idol, but this year I feel for Katie Stevens. She knew who she was until the judges confused her and tried to make her act young. She isn't a young singer. She's an old soul. But I digress...
My motto for life has always been If at first you don't succeed, try try again. I never give up :)
I am, at best, a sporadic viewer of AI.
My life's motto has long been from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran: Work is love made visible.
My writing motto comes from the first author who made me cry, which lead to my realizing written words had power. Jack London said: You can't wait for inspiration you have to go after with a club.
Well I've got a few for ya:
Keep on keepin' on
Get on with it already
Suck it up
Fake it 'til ya make it (courtesy of Steven Tyler)
Chin up little fella (courtesy of my 3yo)
So nothing AMAZING has happened yet today but I feel you, Elana. It must be in the air. THINK POSITIVE!
Lol, great motto! I don't have one for myself yet, but I love the one on Mandy Hubbard's blog: A published author is an amateur who didn't quit. Don't quit.
See, and that statement just makes me grind my teeth.
Greatly?
C'mon, at least speak English.
Yeah, I'm griping over something small but that stuff bugs me.
I can't really add to the mottos though, since I'm stuck in a non-writing funk lately. Another reason to "grrrrr".
Hi, Elana! Great post as usual. My new motto is "Do It Dark." It's just my way of embracing who I truly am as a writer (a horror/dark fiction writer), and a reminder to me that none of my fiction worked until I stopped pussy-footin' around with other styles (fantasy, YA) and just committed to the style that made me uniquely me. So I'm "Doin' it Dark" all the way, everyday, writing some straight-up commercial horror--and staying true to myself in the process :) (Love this post so much that I'm gonna hop on over to my blog and shout it out. Thanks!)
I like that motto :D I'm also a fan of the "fake it till you make it" one :D
That is awesome, Elana! Can you believe I keep forgetting to watch this year? So sad! Well, Tuesday night with mutual means it's out then, but I could watch on Wed... You'll just have to give me updates. lol
Hmm a motto..."It's all good"...that is what gets me through the rough days.....
My motto is a quote by the late, great Georgia O'Keefe:
I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.
Those words light a fire under my @$$ every time I say them!
My motto(s)?
Never surrender.
When life sucks, buy a new book and call it research.
I'm going to borrow some of the other ones listed as well. They're great!
Not a really motto but what keeps me going...
"God gave me talent and these ideas for a reason. If I do my part, He'll take care of the rest. It'll go the way it's supposed to go."
Love the Georgia O'Keefe quote, Nicole! And yes, the "Keep on keepin' on" because that's all we can do.
Glad your in a positive place! And thanks for bringing the rest of there this morning. :)
This is what my Mom has taught all of her eleven children:
Assume the best, look for the good.
I try to live this, but not write it. Writing requires something else entirely.
Where ever inspiration comes from (AI) than bring it on, right? As far as mottos, you are on a role; I usually hit about 20 a day- and counting.
Challenge 'inspirational quote girl' to give you some quotes? :D Here are a few of my tried-and-trues:
"Feel the fear and do it anyway." (Mom. Since I was ... able to understand words).
"It'll be all right." (five year old niece)
Go into your studio and make stuff. (Quote in a community art center. Some how it's a favorite. So simple, and takes the pressure off. Just make stuff. If you're a writer, I guess it would be: Go to your desk and make stuff up.)
And of course: Fortune favors the bold.
Roll with the positivity!!
Wow, these are great ones! I could add "Never give up! Never surrender!" That's from Galaxy Quest, only like, the greatest movie ev-er. Ha!
And Eric, it was from Randy, dawg you man, keepin' it real. Sorry you're in a writing funk. Grr... =)
I love that quote Nicole. I think I might print that and put it on my wall of awesome.
Nisa, you need to DVR girl! They you can watch it anytime you want.
Zoe, I know exactly what you mean. I've had to "find myself" too. And once you do, it feels right when you sit down to write.
L.J. Yes! That's a good quote too. Maybe the wall of awesome will get papered today...
Candyland, this positivity is totally infectious. Love it!
Sherrie, I know exactly what you mean. Katie has sort of lost herself amidst all the feedback. Which could also be applied to writing... Hmm....
Bish, don't worry, I can keep you up to date on AI right here on the blog. Ha ha!
:) E
I linked to your post from yesterday, it really blessed me. I love your motto!
I often turn to that wise sage, Dory, and her magical words "Just keep swimming." :)
I love AI and this year there are so many talented women on it, I can't decide who I like best. As far as the guys go, it's Alex Lambert. I just love the sound of his voice. It's so distinctive.
I love when I write something and it just clicks. I know it's good. Maybe even great. I just don't have a whole panel of judges who can tell me that it's great. lol.
My motto comes from my day job, but it's appropriate for anyone. "If you can't breathe, nothing else matters." It just boils it down to the basics.
Ahhh...so that's what I've been missing. Nothing hard about writing it greatly ;) Love the simplicity of it, as well as the truth.
Love it! The motto I go by is "Everything happens for a reason." For example with break ups I try to not get all depressed and woe is me about it because (1) I don't want to be That Girl and (2) There was a REASON it didn't work out--he wasn't the one! :)
Ahhh my life motto.. I have three actually:
1. Forget Regrets or Life is Yours to Miss (from RENT)
2. Believe 6 Impossible things everyday and anything is possible. (a skewed bit from Lewis Carroll)
3. There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way - treasure every moment you have. Remember time waits for no one. (Souza)
Great is Great...I like it. ;o)
Visit My Kingdom Anytime
I'll quote Shawshank Redemption today, "Get busy livin' or get busy dying."
I'll take the former.
~ Wendy
Mine comes from Mallory on Family Ties of all places. She said tiw as the meaning of life.
Be happy, try not to hurt other people, and hope that you fall in love.
I have to writing mottos:
1. I am only limited by my own insecurities.
2. Live big. Fail spectacularly. Succeed humbly.
Have a *positively* great day!
Whoa, so many comments on this one so this might've been said already, but I keep telling myself...
"I am my biggest obstacle."
It's so easy to look at the query or the submissions or the competition as the obstacles that get in the way of our become published authors. But the truth is we are the obstacle. As long as we write a kick ass story (greatly as you put it!) and keep working we can get there.
Send some positivity my way, because I'm in a definite positivity slump today. Big time. Thanks for giving me a nudge in the right direction.
I love it, Elana!
How about:
Feel the fear and do it anyway!
have a great day :)
I'm sticking with Maureen Johnson's DARE TO SUCK!
I'm with Eric--grinding teeth. But I am all for "to each his own," so if it inspires you, keep it close! Are those two mottos in one sentence? I guess so!
There's also something appealing about Jonathon's contribution--Dare to suck. We should all be so bold!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
What was up with the girls last night on AI. Is it me or were they awful? Yikes! Only two were decent.
Nuff about my opinions lol.
Does anyone remember back in the 90's the brand of soda called OK. It wasn't around long but the motto stuck with me. "Everything will be ok." Yea I just keep telling myself that.
Love it! Thanks for the positive post today!
"Buck up, little camper." -Better Off Dead (a John Cusack 80's movie)
"We don't belittle, we be-big."
"Trying counts."
I love, "great is great!" That's an awesome line! My motto has been Create, hope, dream. It's written on my wall. =)
My daughter was so happy this morning she was bursting into song. That makes me happy. It's great how happiness begets happiness.
I got fortune cookie when I first started writing again seriously that said "Life is either an exciting adventure, or nothing."
I decided to apply that to my writing, reminding myself to keep tension and conflict on every page.
(LOL, Kristi, I wind up singing that under my breath when I'm about to lose my temper, usually in traffic!)
Great mottoes, everyone!
Write greatly. Easy to say, hard to do!
When I complain too much, it's "Life could always be worse. MUCH worse." And it gives me perspective.
Amen. I LOVE American Idol. I wish I wasn't such an addict, but then what would I do 3 evenings a week? Maybe write. :)
Live what you love. That's my motto.
Positivity for me: I got out of my editing rut yesterday and now I have a new and unexpected direction to take. Fun writing ahead.
I shamelessly stole my motto from something my friend once yelled at me:
Permission to quit? Denied. Keep Going.
What an awesome motto for a writer!
My daughter's principal used this motto last year: Great is the enemy of good. I try to remember it when I get discouraged.
My motto comes from W.B. Yeats, "No work is ever wasted"!
My motto is: Worse things have happened to better people.
Keeps me away from getting down when something bad happens.
My motto is may not always be considered positive, but it goes something like this:
Something's going to happen. May not be what I want to happen, but something will happen, and life will go on, regardless. :)
Awesome post, as always. :)
My motto is "With a positive attitude, anything can be achieved!"
And here's one that will boggle some people - "You don't know what you don't know."
Really - think about it!
I love when someone says something that just strikes you. It's a beautiful moment.
Perfect. Absolutely.
There's an award for you on my blog.
I love AI! I see sooo many parallels to the writing life I feel like it's always teaching me something.
I like the motto from good ol' TR: "speak softly and carry a big stick." Not sure how that applies to writing, but it's fun to say.
I also like, "What's talent? Something tasty." This was said by a character in a show I watched.
There's the classic: what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.
And finally, in high school, when my friends and I were the editorial staff on the newspaper, we somehow convinced everyone on staff our motto should be "grrr...like a bull!" - which did actually make it onto our staff shirts. I'm pretty sure it was meant as an affirmative statement about our collective awesomeness. Most people were just confused.
I don't watch American Idol simply because I don't watch much TV. The quote is interesting. I found a quote by Lord Byron that I've adopted.
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” — Lord Byron
It's not my line, but just after I read and chortled at your "Stop the Violins" I found "Less barking, more wagging." Credit for that goes to: http://lfg-findingforty.blogspot.com/
Love how you want to be loved.
Been totally humbled recently. A gal I know at church who is snarky and critical of everyone about 90% of the time called my husband in tears last night because "everybody hates her" and she has NO idea why. Never occured to me 1) that she didn't know she was snarky or 2) that she has feelings too. Umm...oops!
So today I am feelin' the love, baby. And boy does it ever feel good to suddenly love someone you couldn't stand a short time ago...
I'm another Idol fan - we have Canadian Idol when AI is in between seasons. I love Randy's comments too. I don't have a motto yet - gonna have to get me one :)
Idol always inspires me. It teaches me the difference between a cabaret performance and a truly original artist.
Wow - what a great read this whole post and comments section is! You are great! Love the quote.
I have something I say to stop me from feeling sorry for myself or getting depressed - it just is.
My blow dryer blew up (literally... sparks shot out the end of that thing) this morning... mid dry. Not good.
But now I get to get a pretty new one. YAY! ; )
How about, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again? :-)
What AI has taught me is that its not always about talent, but about smoke & mirrors, a good back story, and how you are marketed.
For me it's just, "Love... that's the whole story."
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