Perseverance & The Count of Monte Cristo

Perseverance: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness

This morning I woke up thinking in order to reach any goal you must have perseverance. No way around it, no ifs ands or buts. And speaking of buts or butts, you must put yours in a chair if you expect to reach your writing goals. More on that a little later.

While I was thinking about perseverance, I also thought about the character Edmond Dantè in the movie, The Count of Monte Cristo based on the book by author Alexandre Dumas. I have to say movie because the book version is much different. This guy was the king of perseverance. Wrongly accused of treason and thrown into that garbage of a prison, Château d’If for years.

While stuck in prison, he meets--Abbé Faria, his mentor. Though, Abbé Faria was not happy to see Edmond at first, because he thought the tunnel he meticulously dug out with something equivalent to a spoon and his bare hands was his escape to freedom. Abbé Faria takes Edmond under his wing and teaches him everything he knows.

The short movie version of the story is...Under the mentorship of Abbé Faria, Edmond is transformed into a genius. He escapes, finds the treasure, returns to civilization as the debonair Count of Monte Cristo, gets revenge on his accusers, reconnects with the love of his life and lives happily ever after.

Lately, I've been having difficulty writing. It's not because I have writer's block or no story. It's the whole 'butt-in-chair' part. I just don't 'feel' like doing it. I'd rather surf the net or watch TV. Bad, bad...very bad.

This is where perseverance comes in, you've got to push forward when you don't feel like it and when everything and all the odds are against you and you're feeling stuck.  Much like our friend Edmond found himself, stuck. But he used his time in prison or his 'stuck time' wisely. He learned new things, taught to him by his mentor Abbé Fari. Though he was fueled by the thought of revenge, as a writer, use that fuel to push yourself to finish your manuscript. Probably much like the author Alexandre Dumas felt as he wrote what seems like a million paged manuscript. (Note to all the literary scholars--I didn't say the manuscript was a million pages long, but seemed like a million pages. So, no hate comments, please LOL)

Blessings!

Beth