Opportunity Is Like A Train - Artistic Minds and How We Write COLLABORATIVE EFFORT

Opportunities. We all have them, that much is a given, but how many of us let them pass by and how many of us pluck them from our fast paced lives and utilize them?

Opportunity is like a train. That might seem like an awkward and obscure simile, but I assure you it’s more accurate than you (or I) originally thought.

It was after finding I had a credit at Paperback swap that I went searching for a book to order. I landed on the Guide to Fiction Writing by Phyllis A Whitney. I wasn’t sure how good it’d be and if it was any different than the many books I have here, so I peeked at it on Amazon and saw it had a preview. It was on this preview that I read that Opportunity is Like a Train.

It is, perhaps interesting to note that the train must have passed by my station while this article waited several months to be written. It took me a good long time to locate the novel online which I’m speaking about.

Perhaps you should take a moment to read the chapter for yourself, then come back here and we can continue (and later discuss) Go on, I’ll wait. :)

It seems that opportunity is indeed like a train. I found this book and decided I wanted it. I ordered it up and the request waited and waited and waited on the other member. Finally, it was canceled and the book was lost to me. Opportunity stopped at my train station and pulled away without me.

Naturally, I ordered another book with that credit, and that was that. But already at that point this article was planned to write. It was a month, maybe more later that I got an email notice that the book was re-listed on the site and I could order it. The problem lies in the fact that I didn’t have credits, and so the opportunity to read further in this book passed me up once again.

Opportunity strikes randomly, often without warning. When it makes a stop at your station you heed it! Always be ready, for if the train of opportunity passes through your station unnoticed, you’ll surely regret it.

So, how can you always assure you are at the train station when opportunity arrives? Well, while nothing is fool proof, there’s a few tried and true things, and a few more that utilize modern technology.

If the train of opportunity arrives carrying cargo from your literary muse, you can use the following to assure that the train doesn’t leave you empty-handed at the station.

• Carry a pen and paper with you always
• Utilize your phone’s voice memo feature, or if you have a QWERTY keyboard and text memos, use that.
• Call your answering machine and relay the bit to the machine to note down later.

Sometimes opportunities come in packages too big for memos or voicemails. Often these opportunities come in the guise of a job or offer from someone in the field of your expertise, be it art, music, literature or what have you.

Obviously, when these come by they require a different approach. In this case, if the offer sounds good and like it could jive with what you wish to happen in that field, take it, and don’t hesitate as those offers don’t always come without an expiration date. Look upon it as a fateful thing, or one that you earned, but whatever you do, decide quickly lest they fade away and the opportunity has passed you by.

A few years ago, before I knew about Gather, I had such an opportunity. I entered a short story contest - my first ever - and won first place, which was a $30 cash prize and publication online. With that I was offered a regular monthly writing gig exclusive to that site. Without much thought, I took it. It was a good experience, even though I’m less than happy with much of what I wrote in that series. Still, I’m glad I took the opportunity before the train pulled out leaving me behind.

Have there been any opportunities that you let slip by? Take out a sheet of paper or open up a text document on your computer. Do it now while the thought processes are churning in your head. Make two columns. Label one Opportunities Taken the other Opportunities Missed or Passed Up.

Now, proceed to fill in the columns. Which one is filled in more? Is there something you need to do to make the Opportunities Taken column heavier than the Passed Up one? Do it. Are there any opportunities waiting on the sidelines that you’ve yet to pass up or take? Do something about them and make them happen rather than having to add them to the passed up side.

I have such an opportunity. It’s an amazing one that stunned me at the time that it fell into my lap years ago. I only hope it’s not too late to take it because I fear one of this caliber will not come my way again for a very long time, if at all.

Now, look at the Passed Up side of the column. Why were these passed up? Poor timing? Not ready? Time constraints? FEAR? What could you do in the future to assure that similar opportunities are not passed up?

And with that I need to mull over the remainder my passed up and current opportunities and I encourage you all to do the same.

You may discuss it below or in your own post, but please leave a link here on the comment section below if you respond in your own post so that I can read it and not miss any of the replies.

Image made on Poser Pro 7 and with my photo from Cave Of The Mounds (grass background)