Deborah Annette Shaw

Every month, I write a note to two women I don't know and have never met. It's part of the Visiting Teaching program at our church. Writing to someone you don't know who never responds regardless of what you write is difficult. I usually pray about it. Today I wrote about a woman I knew several years ago who wrote a novel. She loved writing and she was a good writer and I expected that she would have some success with her manuscript. She belonged to a writer's group in a distant city and made the long drive once a month for their meetings. Finally, she asked the group's coordinator to read her manuscript and give her an honest opinion.

The coordinator told her it was a good book, but that her characters were too two-dimensional. My friend didn't know what that meant, but she didn't ask either. She put the book in a drawer and, to my knowledge, never did anything more with it.

Some years later, I looked up "two dimensional characters" in a Google search. It means that a character has no history, no back story. Main characters and recurring characters need to have a back story--everyone comes from somewhere.

The difference between success and failure isn't necessarily a lack of talent. This woman had a lot of talent, but one bump in the road and she put the manuscript away. Persistence and determination are necessary to accomplish anything in this life. Very few people are gifted with instant success. Success is achieved by studying, hard work, making mistakes and learning from them, and picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.

Thomas Alva Edison made 10,000 light bulbs before he actually created one that worked. He was asked once if he didn't feel all those earlier light bulbs were a waste of time. He answered in so many words, "No, because I found 10,000 ways NOT to make a light bulb." His persistence and determination were extraordinary.

Hand in hand with persistence and determination is gratitude for every little success achieved. Little successes lead to bigger successes. Whatever you believe, thanking our Father in Heaven for our many blessings is a good thing to cultivate--not only with Heavenly Father, but also with our family members. An "Attitude of Gratitude" can change lives for the better, improve marriages and other relationships. Persistence, determination, and gratitude are the essential components to success in almost any endeavor. And then sometimes, it's just dumb luck!