My 2019 #Wordoftheyear and a lesson from Luciano Pavarotti
Years ago, in Larry Moss’s acting class, he told of an interview with Luciano Pavarotti. Someone had asked about his discipline in building and caring for his voice and he replied, “It is not discipline; it is devotion.” The idea of coming to talent as one would to a true love, with devotion, passion, and respect has stuck with me through the years. But in the last few years my writing has definitely taken second or third or even fourth place.
I will change that this year.
I am a mom. Which means I have placed my kids and husband ahead of my writing, but now, with a truly empty nest in my near future, I have the time to concentrate on my other passion.
Telling stories.
So I picked a word this year. I haven’t done it before. This year the word is:
Devoted.
(Devotion works too as it feels more active to me.) Every form of the word will color my day, every day. It will be about being devoted to my health, my writing and my family and really doubling down on focus. I refuse to be swayed by distraction, and instead, will be devoted to my passions.
I was like that back in my teens, 20’s and into my 30’s. I wanted to sing and act and I gave it my all. Then, if you have been reading my blog you may know, I finally committed to writing a novel. Start to finish. Along came kids and a house and a dog or two and then cancer. As I had been doing since early childhood I always wrote. No one saw what I wrote after I graduated from high school and left college. I only shared with a select few who could guide me.
Ideas come fast and furious.
I am never without an idea for a new story, and it takes supreme,–here’s my word–DEVOTION, to finish what I am working on rather than start fresh with a new story. So this year will be about finishing.
Wish me luck and devotion and a state of being devoted to the things and people that are the most important to me. I promise to live without fear: fear of success, failure, other people’s opinions and a million other things that could stop me.
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