A Hard-Won Victory

It’s all about tenacity

Here in the UK we’ve been overrun by football fever during the last few days, culminating in an admirable, though ultimately disappointing, second place in the European cup. Such was overwhelming press coverage, that another GB success went almost unnoticed, but it was one I registered with interest. Mark Cavendish, a British cyclist, whose career has been dogged by illness, injury and misfortune, equalled the long-standing Tour de France stage win record, held by the five-times winner Eddy Merckx, with the 34th stage win of his career that ended in Carcassonne last Friday. Cavendish almost quit the sport at the end of last year, he was so disheartened by critics and disillusioned with recent performances. But he didn’t. He picked himself up and carried on fighting. And what a good job he did. At 36, an age when many cyclists are retired, he achieved the greatest success of his career. A hard-won victory indeed.

So what can this teach us as writers? I guess it’s all about tenacity, not giving up when others are negative about our writing, when disappointment follows disappointment and the success we dream of seems every more elusive. I don’t mean we should press on blindly, ignoring all advice, continuing to build castles in the air. If we have talent but don’t seem to be getting the break throughs, sometimes it’s a case of going back to the drawing board, working out what is going wrong and rectifying it. There are lots of ways to improve: seeking advice from established writers and respected creative writing tutors; reading widely in our chosen genre to see what tips we can glean, drafting and redrafting our work until it’s perfect. There are no guarantees, but if we can find the kind of determination and resilience that Mark Cavendish has demonstrated, it won’t do us any harm.