Good Samaritan

I saw the grey clouds roll in and felt the soft breeze blow through my hair. Winter often made for cold days and the smell of pine needles was all around. My town of Adairsville, Georgia is nestled right in between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia. December remains my favorite month to go for a run through Redtop Mountain down south in the town of Kennesaw. I parked in the nearly vacant lot and stretched a bit so I wouldn’t cramp up in the middle of the slippery trail. Pine straw and pine needles were notorious for covering the trails as well as deer droppings and a wide array of sticks.

I started my run at a nine-minute mile pace and reached my target of a seven-and-a-half-minute mile pace within the first five minutes. Sweat beads were beginning to roll down my face and my Georgia Bulldogs beanie was already drenched. I could hear the screams of a young child or maybe even a woman up ahead so I sped up my pace to a heavy sprint. I reached the point where the screams were coming from and stopped at the edge where the trail met the woods.

“Hey, are you okay down there?” I said as I tried to peer through the thick trees.

I heard a loud rustling noise and the sound of two voices talking back and forth. I began to fear that maybe a girl was being attacked and that her attacker was trying to keep her quiet.

“Is everyone all right? I heard a scream.”

I waited for a few seconds but still, no answer, only a faint rustling of leaves and branches. I reached down and picked up a branch that resembled a baseball bat and made my way down the sloped hill and to the first tree. I saw a naked man lying on top of a naked woman and knew that something wasn’t right.

“Hey! Get off her you sick prick!”

I rushed into the woods and hit the young man in the head with the branch. He tried to say something but with one swift blow, he hit the ground and a small pool of blood streamed into the dirt from the side of his head.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” said the young girl who couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. She rushed over to her attacker and kneeled down over him. She didn’t try to cover herself but instead shook the young man to wake him up.

“Johnny? Johnny, are you okay? Johnny, please answer me.”

“Ma’am, are you okay? I’m calling the police, help should be here shortly.”

“No, I’m not okay. You just hit my boyfriend in the head with a fucking log you asshole.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were being attacked. I called out but no one answered.”

“We didn’t answer because we didn’t want you to see us back here you dumb shit.”

I wasn’t sure what to do as I didn’t know how to explain this to the police. I hung up the phone before anyone answered and looked down at my hefty branch. I walked over to the naked girl and with one quick swing, knocked her out cold.

Why I Love Joyce Carol Oates

A little over a year ago, I had merely heard the name Joyce Carol Oates. Then, I read that she would be speaking at the university I attend, Oregon State. I decided to attend with a couple of friends and was blown away by the sheer amount of books she’s written.

She’s written more than 70 novels.

70.

I left feeling so impressed at her reading and personality, I went home and ordered her most acclaimed book: Them.

Now, ignore the person in the background while you see the honest interest I held for this book. It instantly became my favorite book and still is my favorite. The characters are written with such tangible qualities that I almost cried at one point in the novel. That is the only time a book has ever been able to do that to me and I want to share a few quotes from Joyce Carol Oates that are beautiful.

“I never change, I simply become more myself.”

“The worst thing: to give yourself away in exchange for not enough love.”

“When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.”

The first quote is my favorite. I think it’s true that we don’t ever change, rather, we emerge. We emerge into what we want to be or who we choose to be. Sometimes it is good and other times it can be depressing. Whichever place you are in right now, know that you can become more yourself by making the choices you desire to be made for you.

Think, Do, Be: Positive

No matter what your profession might be, excellence should be your main goal. Some jobs can be difficult to muster the motivation to work hard but diligent work is the only thing that ultimately gets you ahead in life.

Yes, I agree that connections, timing, and luck all play a role but hard work will overshadow all of that. If I fail, it’s because I chose to fail. The only time I lose is when I quit. I am a determined individual and when I set my mind to something, I accomplish that thing or I give it all I have in my failure.

Colin Powell said, “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”

Think what you will of his politics, these words couldn’t be truer. I grew up in construction and know what it means to work hard. I’ve run my own cleaning business and lawn care business and understand physical labor. I write for anywhere from 2-6 hours each day and can relate to being mentally tired.

Whatever you want to do in life, keep working until you achieve your goal. Don’t let negative people get in your way and at the same time, take constructive criticism to heart. Use it to make yourself better and improve whatever it is that you’re doing. While you may not fully achieve your goal, you can at least know that you tried and gave it your all.

So, be encouraged. Know that you’re not alone and there are more people out there just like you than you could ever imagine. There are other struggling writers and actors; business owners and students. Take comfort in the fact that people have been overcoming the odds stacked against them since the beginning of time.

Dealing With Rejection

I’m not sure if I’ve ever met anyone who likes to be rejected. I’ll never forget when I was a senior in high school and I’d been dating this girl off and on for close to a year. We were basically a couple but one day as we parked at the mall in Kennesaw, Ga; I decided to make things official and ask her to be my girlfriend.

We sat there in my hot, white S-10 pickup truck and her words hit like a purposeful blow to the gut.

“No.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that it caught me completely off guard. When I asked her why, cause I didn’t know what else to say, she said, “We’re both too young to be committed and you’re moving off to college soon.”

I didn’t really want to hear her reason, I just wanted her to say yes. As a writer, rejection is a major part of the process. You will hear no many more times than you hear yes. Lit agents, publishing companies, and even some readers. You can learn from the no’s, however. There is usually a reason behind their no.

Sometimes it’s simply because the agent is too busy to take on a new client or it’s just not their taste. Other times your writing needs to be improved before it can be published. I received 22 rejections from lit agents and 2 rejections from publishing companies for THE EARTH BLEEDS RED. I also received serious interest from 2 lit agents and eventually signed directly with a publishing company because it felt like the right thing to do.

Here’s the bottom line: take rejection and build on it. Know that it’s only temporary and never permanent unless you make it permanent. Use the rejection as fuel to become better in your pursuit and strive for greatness. Below are a few examples of writers who dealt with rejection and became incredibly successful:

John Grisham received 25 rejections

The Help received 60 rejection letters

James Joyce got 22 rejection letters for The Dubliners and sold only 300 copies in its first year, 120 of which he bought himself

“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.” -Ray Bradbury