Regan Black

This is my last post as it relates to the olympics – I promise! But as a former athlete, I must say the dedication and efforts are inspiring.

Learning the back story of how Kim Yu-Na made it to Vancouver, her training and the ups and downs under the heavy expectations of a nation made it all the more amazing when she took the gold.

With a record-setting score!

She wasn’t the only athlete to come to the winter games with immense pressure on her shoulders. She wasn’t the only athlete to compete under the harsh glare of the media spotlight.

But the next morning when Dick Button said she did it despite her flaws and weaknesses: that got my attention.

Apparently Kim Yu-Na has back trouble and her coaches said with proper rest and physiotherapy it wouldn’t be a problem in competition. Watching her skate, she didn’t seem to have any weaknesses.

But that’s because Kim and her coaches tailored a program to her particular strengths.

So Kim can’t do a lot of the ‘leg up behind her back’ moves other skaters knock off with deceptive ease. But she can put together a complete program – two complete programs – packed with exciting spins, jumps, footwork  and transitions that play up the lines and grace she was born with.

They said she’s got a playful side and she likes to ‘take on’ a character during the performance. Her Bond girl rendition in the short program was spot-on!

Her coaches gave her what she needed physically, to find what would let her shine under the spotlight. But Kim put in the hours of work, the focused concentration and effort, and she reached her gold-medal goal.

Not by worrying about the skills she lacked, not by comparing herself to others. She did it by discovering and playing to her strengths.

As writers, with individual preferences, talents, and strengths – this is a lesson we should all take to heart. We won’t get where we want to be by comparing our weak areas with another author’s strong suit.

We’ve got to find our strengths, and then play them up with daily effort and perseverance!

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Yes, I’m aware the olympic games are over. However, some of the stories and lessons remain – as they should.

It occurred to me as I heard all the hype about Lindsey Vonn – and watched how she handled it with grace and pretty good spirits – that a similar thing happens to writers.

Those who dream of careers in commercial fiction often face heavy  expectations from people inside and outside the publishing industry.

Everyone has an opinion – or a particular delusion – about published authors. Often it starts with the notion that you merely write the book and then send out a brief letter about the book to an agent.

That agent falls in love with the book and sells it for a seven figure deal to a ‘major’ house.  The major house launches a no-reader left behind publicity campaign. The book is wildly popular and the author cashes royalty checks while eating chocolates and writing the next book.

Reporters were eager to label Lindsey Vonn the Vancouver Darling and predict she would gather gold in her every race. As a prime athlete she trained, envisioned, and competed with the intent of peaking at the 2010 games.

But did her expectations match the expectations of the media?

In her own words- no.

What Vonn had in mind for her olympic experience probably differed greatly from what the public anticipated. And it should. She knew her strengths and her limits. She knew her goals. She knew herself.

Vonn dreamed and prepared, she gave every event the best she had, and she had every reason to be proud of herself when the games were done. She was the first American woman to take gold in the downhill, that alone made her a standout success.

A writer’s expectations may differ wildly from the outsider’s expectations. In reality, writers can only control the writing and submitting part of the publishing program. Oh – and the promo efforts too of course!

No matter what family, friends, neighbors and postal carriers think about the life of authors, only the individual author knows the strengths, weaknesses, desires and ultimate goals that set them apart from the pack.

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I’m a big fan of the Olympic games and summer or winter, I watch from start to finish. I know the winter games are over, but I couldn’t resist this.

Today, to honor the greyt achievements of the greyhounds in Regan’s Zoo I’m awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals to the dogs in the following categories:

Snuggling – for best sharing of the couch:

Boo takes the gold,

Bandit the silver (he doesn’t ever try to steal the couch)

and Brody gets bronze, because he feels couches are for retirees only.

Ability to compact oneself when necessary (like sharing the couch or bed):

Gold goes to Boo (who frequently curls up so tight it supports her delusion that she’s really a teacup chihuahua),

Brody moves to silver because he will curl enough to share a couch with Boo or a human when he feels like amusing us,

and Bandit gets the bronze because he’s too young to have mastered the fine art of making himself small.

Running

Gold here must go to Bandit. Tall, fast, and talented, he would’ve been a star on the track.

Silver goes to Boo for speed, determination, and cunning.

Bronze for Brody – unless it’s a reindeer race – he’s a romper not a runner and no one should have a problem with that since he’s retired.

Vocal Talents:

Brody takes GOLD! Because he can talk, grumble and sing.

Bandit is the Silver medalist. He has a wide range, but less control. He’s working on it and will be a Gold medal threat by the summer games in London.

Bronze goes to Boo. (but she’s the winner in the more typical quiet and graceful category.

Gold Medal in Fetching goes to Bandit.

The other dogs do not compete in this category – they are retirees (in case you didn’t get the memo that means they don’t ‘work’ anymore).

And it’s a three way tie for Gold in the Telling Time competition. All of them know when it’s 7am and 5pm. Even more impressive, they know when it’s 7:05 and 5:05 and the food bowls are still empty.

And just to clarify, we only named one of our dogs, Boo, and it wasn’t just so she’d have a ‘b’ name.

Live the adventure!

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