Only You Know What You Set Out to Achieve

The one thing I've learned during my brief stint as a writer is to try not to overreact to any review or criticism. It's difficult, but not impossible. It boils down to having confidence, in not only what you do, but also who you are. If what you do is write, someone is not going to like it. You can count on that.

I have worked as a graphic artist for many years, and grown to accept criticism. I doubt if I'll ever enjoy it. I've had clients look at a design and call it garbage. In my thirties, those comments were painful, no make that devastating, but I've come to learn they were not criticizing me, even if that's what it felt like. Over time, I put those comments in a mental file cabinet, in a file marked 'Growing Pains'. That became one fat little folder over the years.

I don't mean you shouldn't celebrate good reviews and be unhappy with less than stellar comments—you should, but they shouldn't influence your writing, or your core being. Those things belong to you no matter how many cheer or criticize. The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming books: 'When it Stopped Raining'.

'Danny burrowed her fingers in the cool, wet sand and thought about a story her mother told her as a child.

A little girl dug a hole in the sand and began carrying buckets of water from the lake and pouring them in the hole. Every time she went back to the hole, the water disappeared, but she returned to the lake and brought more. Finally, someone sitting on the beach watching, looked at her and said, 'little girl, what is it you're trying to do?"

"I'm putting the lake in this hole." She politely told him.

The stranger knelt next to her. "You won't be able to put the lake in there, honey."

The little girl shrugged and brought more buckets of water. The stranger told her again, "Little girl, you won't be able to put the lake in that hole." She looked at him, a little puzzled, "I already have put the lake in there," she said. "You didn't think I meant the whole thing?"

When her mother told that story the first time, it made no sense. Then she explained that people would judge her and measure her life by their expectations, but only she could decide whether she failed or succeeded. Only she knew what she had set out to achieve, and whether or not she achieved it.'

I think Danny's mother was right.

They transported every make of airplane in the American armament, which included training, pursuit, and transport planes, along with fighters, and bombers. Some WASP received orders to fly planes that males had refused to fly, such as the B-26 Martin Marauder, also known as the 'Widow Maker'. The hope was to shame the men into flying them. Although the ploy successfully made men feel 'if a woman can do it, anyone can', eventually even the Army recognized how degrading that attitude was to the women pilots.

After the complete their training, the WASP lived and worked at one hundred and twenty bases around the country. They wore uniforms that followed strict military code and took orders as if they served in the armed forces. They didn't. They had no life or accident insurance, no death benefits and could not be buried in a military cemetery or receive a burial with flags and honors. WASP could achieve no rank of significance outside their organization, nor could they give orders to men. Federal law prohibited women from flying military planes into combat or outside the boundaries of the United States, still, thirty-eight WASP died serving their country.

World War II was an interesting time for women. While a woman wearing trousers in public still faced possible arrest by a crabby police officer, (in some places pants were illegal on women) two hundred thousand enlisted in the military and twelve million, many who had never worked outside their homes, took jobs in factories, shipyards, offices, and as civilian workers on military bases.

These women preformed jobs that no one, often even the women themselves, expected they could do. Many worked in familiar roles such as sewing flags, uniforms, and parachutes, but others were mechanics, cryptographers and of course, the most famous, the thousands of Rosie the Riveters. They became a symbol for all the women workers.

When the war ended, most women returned to their lives at home, though some continued to work. The unspoken rule in Washington, D.C. was that the role of women in the war receive little attention. The military feared that women might believe they could continue to do the jobs. After the WASP 'experiment' ended, the Pentagon ordered their files sealed. For over thirty years, no one talked, wrote, or learned about the pilots, and few were interested in the women who literally kept 'the home fires burning' while they worked in defense plants and shipyards.

That's changed. A great deal of information is available. To see if Congress ever recognized these fearless women or if you're interested in learning about any of the heroines of WWII, go to http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp and rosietheriveter.org. I found learning about these women uplifting, particularly in our present state. It's helpful to see examples that take me beyond my perceived limitations. Reading about the courage of these women did that and more.

Where Do You Go When You Create?