Follow Through

My son’s varsity soccer program is young. This is their fourth year, and their record so far is 16-3-1 (wins-losses-ties). For the first year, their record was 2-14-2, which could be expected with a new team.  In years two and three, their wins increased to five and 10, respectively. This year, with about equal numbers of juniors and seniors, the team is doing very well. But all the progress they’ve made over the past few years was almost undone by a new, well-meaning but not very bright,  assistant coach. He advised the players NOT to follow through on their shots to score.

Say what?!?!

I may be nothing more than an enthusiastic parent now, but I played my share of sports and grew up watching other sports with my dad. It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball, softball, volleyball, football, basketball or soccer. What do coaches tell their players? FOLLOW THROUGH. Your throw won’t be any good if you don’t follow through. Neither will your hit, your spike, your shot, or your kick. Following through helps guide the ball where you want it to go. Following through will help you score. And isn’t that a players ultimate goal?

Follow through. The words reverberated in my head.

Follow through. Maybe we want to, or maybe we don’t have any choice. Either way, many of us follow through on family commitments. Sometimes what we need to do is pleasant, and other times it’s not. But we do it anyway. Why? Family counts.

Follow through. We all have responsibilities at our jobs. We have to produce or we won’t have a job. A job is what pays the bills. We have to eat, and we need a place to live. Without a job, those necessities will be difficult to come by so we just do what is necessary. Why? Money counts.

Follow through. Follow through. Follow through. Over and over the words pounded in my mind. Mocking me. Prodding me. Follow through: be the writer you want to be. 

Writers practice just like athletes. We each have our own routines that serve as warm-up exercises. There are drills we perform to tone and define our skills; repetitive motions that become easier over time. We spend hours at our craft, fine-tuning each skill. Are we ever done? Probably not. There is always room for improvement, and we should continue striving to be the best we can be. A well-written story keeps readers turning the pages until the very end. Why? Because words count.

It all comes down to following through. Instead of dropping the ball, it’s time for me to heed the words and follow through, in my life and in my writing, with things that are important to me.

Are you following through, in your life and in your writing? Or has the ball of things important to you been more like a greased pig, squirting out of your hands just when you’re about to score that sometimes elusive goal?