[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_post_title global_module=”3553″ title=”on” meta=”on” author=”on” date=”on” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”on” featured_placement=”background” parallax_effect=”on” parallax_method=”off” text_orientation=”center” text_color=”light” text_background=”on” text_bg_color=”rgba(255,253,250,0.79)” module_bg_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” title_text_color=”#41596b” title_all_caps=”off” meta_text_color=”#7d797b” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title_font=”Oswald||||” title_font_size=”30px” saved_tabs=”all” parallax=”on” background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” /][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.2″]

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” — Lyndon B. Johnson

With a single exception, the quotes I’ve used for these essays were chosen at least a month ago. That was part of my NaNo prep, getting ready to write these pieces. A number were written well before hand, cleaving to my theme for each week. Week One was Starting Out/Journeying, Week Three will be Perseverance, while Week Four is Victory/Lessons Learned/Achievement.

This week, Week Two, was supposed to be Work/Struggle/Uphill Climb.

Everything for this week from Thursday forward? I threw out Wednesday when I finally made it to the keyboard. Each year I have done these pieces, there has always been an event that required not the calm, reasoned, edited work written beforehand, but something more immediate. This year, Tuesday was it.

I’m still struggling, still trying to find my way back to full writing strength. It’s sheer habit that’s gotten me to the keyboard for at least some stretch of time each day, and I’ve found myself both diving headlong into conversations on Facebook and Twitter — and pulling back. It’s the struggle, the uphill climb to do the work when the world doesn’t do what you thought — what you hoped — it would do.

But even as many of us mourn and, yes, many celebrate, we must face the fact that the events of Tuesday are now yesterday. The question now is what we will do with tomorrow. The majority of us do not have the ability to affect the world on a grand scale on a daily basis, but we can affect those around us. We should strive to be excellent to one another in hopes that others will be excellent to us in return. And when the jackasses aren’t, this doesn’t give us a pass to stop trying, because there is always tomorrow, and always others who will be touched by our kindness.

There will always be ideas that we do not like. The counter to this is to state our ideas clearly and with conviction, to not give up when we suffer failure. This is true in life and in writing. In the Doctor Who episode “Tooth and Claw,” the Doctor says, “You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!”

Books don’t get written without our words. Yesterday is past, never to come again, but tomorrow is always waiting. Your tools lie before you. Arm yourself and your ideas could change the world.

Word Count Goal: 21,671

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]