The Pursuit Of Excellence In Writing

How to extract an elephants tooth, swallow a gnat and discover pure gold.

Every day I sit at my desk and I start to wonder what will I write about today. Sometimes it's as easy as pushing your infirm grandmother down the stairs and sometimes it's like trying to extract an elephants tooth going in at the arse end. Having said that, it is comforting to know that having swallowed quite a few elephants, thankfully nowhere near the arse end, I am hardly likely to choke on a gnat.

Sometimes, make that lots of times, I delve into my fascinating past, a great deal of it painful and an equal amount not. Doing this I do find myself going over a lot of the same ground. It's like a kind of perpetual catharticism I suppose. Other times I lose myself in poetry and factual and fictional short stories, it's all relevant.

Of course, I also visit the other worlds of other writers here on Medium and Illumination. One particular writer I have a great deal of time for, Esther-g, is what I would call a writer's writer. That is to say, somebody who other writers like to read, for all sorts of reasons, not least of all for the quality of their thought processes, their personality, their interesting takes on universal topics and their style of writing.

Reading through the first piece I have selected here is an article which made me think that I really should write more about living in the NOW. I have to think about what I feel like today and how I am dealing with it, how I am feeling about those forays of mine into a long distant past which can all too easily hurl me into a slough of despond.

Sometimes it is how am I dealing with something that has just happened, something that makes me sad or fed up (I am on a big downer at the moment with an absolutely useless, incompetent government administration which is driving me nuts in what to my tortured mind appears to be an intentional act of vengeance). And then I read Esther's ever so wise words....

"When you’re in the throes of a bad patch, it helps to remember that nothing lasts forever.

Instead of passively reacting to life as it unfolds and feeling like a helpless victim, decide that you’ll let nothing spoil your day. Choose happiness for yourself. Stay calm and look for a trace of blue in the dark skies ahead.

Whether you’re going up or down, make the most of it and enjoy the ride."

That my dear friends is an excellent takeaway for anybody and already I am in a much lighter mood because of it.

And so I come to another great piece by Esther, this time about the power of silence. Now I know for a fact that young children know only too well about the power of silence, I have experienced it with my own four children. And yet we seem to lose that knowledge of that power as we grow into adulthood, or at least we stop using it. Maybe it is because we are accustomed to filling every vacant pause almost out of some misplaced sense of obligation to do so. And amidst all of the noise and haste that we help to create we forget or ignore that one thing....

"Silence projects strength and authority.

Silence communicates better when you’ve had enough of what’s going on. When practicality failed to serve its purpose and words become like dried and trodden sand underfoot. It loses its meaning and its validity."

The next piece I think everybody should slowly read and take note really resonated with me. In fact, I felt like I was reading about my own progress through life. It was truly, uncannily, just like my own experience.

Like Esther, I spent far too much of my life giving far too much to others, others who quite frankly didn't deserve it, and I paid a very heavy price for that lack of thought for my own well being. I could so easily have written what Esther wrote here;

"I’m always told to be a good person, and the definition of good is to put others’ needs before oneself. After all, they say Jesus went to the cross for others so I too should live sacrificially, for the reward is great in heaven. Seriously?

The trouble with this story is that after a while it becomes stale. I just can’t live up to that expectation anymore. Why does the flight attendant hold up the oxygen mask and remind you to put your mask on first? Why do people say you can’t pour from an empty cup?"

Why indeed Esther. To look after others you have to start with yourself. That for me is one great takeaway worth the read all on its own!

On the surface the following piece is about finding love online. Simples. Not. Reading between the lines one or two things become blindingly obvious, One is that Esther has a level of emotional intelligence off the scale. Two, Esther has developed a very high degree of self knowledge, and that my friends is worth a king's ransom.

More than anything, what I gained from this piece is the important benefits of living in the moment, the now of right where you are at this moment in time. Not where you are geographically, but where you are in your personal growth and development.

Esther's subtitle begs the question "Do cyber relationships work?" Well, the answer is a resounding yes, but maybe not in the way that you think.

The final piece I would like to draw to your attention is all about the pursuit of happiness and how confused lots of people are about what true happiness actually is. Esther makes no bones about her take on that, and I love it.

"Most people would want the Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand and turn their dreams into realities. They wish they had servants waiting on them while they sit on a floating throne. Unfortunately, that will not happen anytime soon. That’s the pursuit of laziness.

Any goal worth gaining requires a certain amount of investment, and I’m not just talking about financial investment. It doesn’t always have to be money, although that can be a part. There are other factors involved, such as the time required to hone a skill or sacrificing short-term pleasures for long-term success.

Success equals sacrifice, and the pie will not drop on the plate of those who just want a piece without the work.

The one thing standing between you and complete happiness is You. Only You know what you want and only You can decide to change your life."

Right there in a nutshell Esther has hit the nail squarely on the head. I could not have said it better myself.

As I mentioned above, I do delve into a great deal of other peoples writing and I cannot truly think of one who has impressed me quite so much as Esther has. I think she is a brilliant writer and more than deserving of any reader's attention.

As for extracting an elephants tooth or swallowing a gnat, writing about Esther's writing is nothing of the sort. It is more akin to running the ever so sensitive soft pads of my fingertips over the finest piece of silk I can lay my hands upon only to discover that what lies beneath is pure gold.

One final takeaway from me is this, everyday at some point I think to myself, what can I do today to make somebodies day? It can be a coin or two in a poor mans hat, a box of chocolates for my lovely wife, a few kind words for somebody in need of some sort of comforting thoughts. Today I decided that something that was long overdue was some well deserved recognition for a writer who gives so much to everybody else.

Thank you Esther for all that you give to Illumination, it is noticed by a great many as well as myself. And thank you for the times that you have reached out to me, sometimes without even realising it, it meant more than I could say.

Esther George Dr Mehmet Yildiz Dew Langrial Marcus Maria Rattray Agnes Laurens Thewriteyard Holly Kellums Stuart Englander Terry L. Cooper