A story of perseverance

I’m in an inspirational mood this week. (Or maybe I’m just procrastinating working on my latest round of revisions. I don’t know.)

Sometimes, we all get the “Am-I-crazies?”, as Nathan Bransford calls them. Publishing is a long slog, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s worth it to keep pounding away at that novel that no one might read.

Today we get a story, and it’s not about a writer. Once upon a time, there was a man who decided to become an actor. He did all the requisite things at the time: signed a contract with a studio for bit parts on television, pulled in a regular salary as an extra in mostly non-credited and non-speaking roles. After five years without any real progress, he learned a trade to support his family. But he wasn’t ready to give up on his dream.

His trade brought him into contact with up-and-coming directors—directors who gave him small,but good parts in their films. Each contact, and each role, probably felt like a big break, but after another five years, he was still mostly playing one-off characters who didn’t even warrant a last name on television shows. Still, he wasn’t ready to give up:

I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.

After a decade of trying to make it, one of those up-and-coming directors hired him to read lines with other actors auditioning for parts in his next movie. Eventually, that director came to really like the way our hero interpreted one character in particular, and cast him in the role.

Yeah, the crew thought the film was a B-movie joke at best, some of the cast believed the film would fail, and even our hero thought the film was “weird.” The dialogue sucked (our hero helped improve it). The director didn’t like the style of the cinematographer—or, it seemed, the actors. Production and post-production problems pushed back the release by months. By all accounts, it looked like the movie wouldn’t do much for our hero’s career before it was finally released, 33 years ago yesterday.

You might have heard of the film. Our hero played a guy called Han Solo.

What do you think? What are you favorite inspirational stories or quotations?

quotation via The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood

Photo by Joe Flood

5 thoughts on “A story of perseverance”

  1. Oh, that was too cool! Thank you. I really needed this post today.

    After being laid off for three years, and odd-jobbing to make ends meet, I’ve been rehired. My writing time is about to get cut in half – or worse. Now I just need to remember to never give up on my dreams.

    1. Congrats on the new job! My dad just got rehired two years after a layoff, so I know how exciting and satisfying to finally feel wanted again, as my dad put it. You can definitely do both—most people have to anyway. Just give yourself time to adjust and find a new routine, and don’t be too hard on yourself because you have new limitations!

  2. Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind.
    – Bruce Lee

    Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
    – Will Rogers

  3. Good stuff, Jordan. I haven’t been writing much lately due to a recurring case of isuckitis and storyideas flu, so inspiration week has come at a good time for me.

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