By Larry Leech @LarryJLeechII

Life’s greatest opportunities don’t always come wrapped in a big box with a giant bow on top. Sometimes a life-changing situation first appears as a black cloud full of bad news. When those moments arrive, you can curl into a ball and cry for all eternity. 

Or … stand up and fight … with all your might.

Of course, we all know where our might comes from. With a heavenly boost, I discovered a depth of fight in me that I didn’t know I had. I don’t like pain and suffering. Unlike the younger me, I no longer take risks or do anything that might cause me to get hurt. Maybe it’s age. Maybe it’s wisdom. Either way, I don’t like being in pain. Or suffering. Or even being uncomfortable.

It took a few health issues over the years for me to find that fight within me. Now when something “minor” pops up, like slicing a drive off the first tee, I find myself saying, sometimes to a golf partner, “Worse things have happened.”

In finding that fight in me, I also have learned how to not let the little things bother me, like slicing a drive off the second tee when I made an adjustment to fix it. 

At times, we need that same attitude in our writing. Spending minutes, maybe even hours, fussing over a word, a sentence, a paragraph can suffocate our creativity, maybe even to the point of throwing in the towel. Maybe not permanently, but possibly for an hour, a week, and worst of all, months. 

If God has put a story or a message on your heart, He has plans for it. Might be to become a best-seller. Might be to reach one person. But … He can’t complete His plans if you don’t do your part. And that’s to finish.

So next time you want to throw in the towel, fight with all your might to the finish. Don’t let the enemy or anything else keep you for “doing your part.” The reward of the fight is worth it. 

Now to make another adjustment so I don’t slice my third drive.

Writing coach of award-winning novelists, Larry J. Leech II has spent nearly 40 years working with words. After a 23-year journalism career that began in 1981, Larry moved into freelance writing and editing in 2004. He has ghostwritten nearly 30 books and edited more than 250 manuscripts. Larry teaches at numerous conferences nationwide and can be found online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and his website, www.larryleech.com.