The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vince Lombardi
Looking at the Amazon best seller list I am am not surprised to find Dan Brown at the top and 6 of the seven Harry Potter books on the list. The New York Times doesn’t have things much different. Both lists also feature Micheal Connelly, the Owen and Stephen King collaboration, John Grisham, and Ken Follet. This is important, because I am talking about writers who are, by their nature, committed to excellence. You rarely make it to the top of the world without that level of commitment. This is something I’ve notably lacked for the majority of my writing and teaching career. I rely largely on talent and a modicum of charisma to push through and find success.
Basically, I’d be a bit of a situation if I could focus solely on writing. It is like that old saying, ‘If I dropped out of the world for 15 years and did nothing but train, I’d kick Batman’s ass.’ Okay, maybe that is derivative of a saying, but sensible nonetheless. The vagaries of life create limitations that prevent me from dropping everything and just being a ‘riter, but I can devote more time to the craft and more of that commitment to excellence that made Lombardi teams and Lombardi himself such a staple bad ass.