by Delores Topliff, @DeloresTopliff
I’d heard of Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist and planetarium director hosting the PBS NOVA ScienceNow show, but didn’t know his personal story. It seems that an elementary school field trip to a planetarium when he was nine years old changed his life. From that day on, everything Neil did led to him becoming an astrophysicist to understand and explore the universe. Before that field trip, Neil didn’t aspire to be an astrophysicist. From then on, that’s all he desired. In junior high his night visits to apartment rooftops with telescopes made the public call the police on him a few times.
Author of seven books and a powerful educator, his most quoted advice is, “Whether or not you can ever become great at something, you can always become better at it. Don’t ever forget that! And don’t say, ‘I’ll never be good.’ You can become better! And one day you’ll wake up and you’ll find out how good you actually became.”
Those words apply to everything including writing. Was there a single moment that made you want to be a writer? Or did the idea grow over time until you took the plunge like those hardy souls in Polar Bear Clubs on New Year’s Day who break the ice and dive in. Whether you’re published or not, you’re compiling words and perfecting your craft.
2024 may be your breakout year or the period you accomplish more than any previous time. Meanwhile, every day you’re getting better. And better.
The requirement is to keep going. Write blog posts, stories, books, or encouraging notes that touch and bring lasting change, even if you don’t hear about it and learn how good you actually became until eternity.
That will still be very worth it and the purpose for which you were born!
A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom
A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom shares travel tips that work in many places plus times and friendships in a land she’s grown to love during nine adventurous trips over 39 years. Now when travel isn’t advisable, whether you’d hoped to visit Israel but couldn’t, or been there and long to return, this in-depth portrait lets you breathe the atmosphere and experience the facets she loves about a place that changed her life.
Delores Topliff writes and teaches online for the Univ. of Northwestern-St. Paul Minnesota near her two doctor sons and five grandchildren. She lives on a Minnesota family farm half of each year and spends fall and winter months in Northeastern Mississippi. Besides teaching and speaking, she has four published historical novels, and her stories appear in Revell, Bethany House, and Guideposts compilation books. Travel is her favorite means of learning. Delores is a world traveler taking mission and personal trips plus guiding small groups to Israel. Her newest book, A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom shares travel tips that work in many places plus times and friendships in a land she’s grown to love during nine adventurous trips over 39 years. Now when travel isn’t advisable, whether you’d hoped to visit Israel but couldn’t, or been there and long to return, this in-depth portrait lets you breathe the atmosphere and experience the facets she loves about a place that changed her life. Follow her blogs, books, and more at delorestopliff.com