Lost Causes: Applying Persistence and Motivation To Turning Them Around

This is a brag, but it’s also a lesson in sometimes breaking the rules. And about how my mother’s creed that “You never know if you can do something unless you try,” is true. And then it’s about you.

My husband sent me a little news story in the local paper about a search by our city’s library and its Arts and Culture Commission. I let it sit on my desk a tad too long. When I finally saw it, I told him I’d missed the deadline.

He said “So??? By a couple of days!”

Then I started looking at what they needed/wanted for applications. Yeesht. Videos. Trailers. Media kits. And a ton more. So then I started thinking, well…never mind. I mean, it would take days to assemble them all. And, you know, my videos are dated…and on and on. Excuses.

Then I started thinking about the stuff I tell all of YOU! So I just rounded up what I had (well, yeah! the media kit, of course!) and sent it. That’s it. No crossed fingers. I mean, it was a lost cause anyway,right?  No expectations. No nervous breakdown. Just the essentials.

And, now. Ta da! The brag part. I now hold my community’s Diamond Award in Arts and Culture. Persistence works, but so does being there when the universe calls. 

     
 Winner: Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts
 Glendale California's Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Glendale Library,
 2013

 

PS: Awards are lovely recognition, but they can also be used as marketing tools when you apply the motivation and persistence it took to get an award to help with your marketing afterward.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .