“Every day is another opportunity to start again and to be better.”                                   Misty Copeland, author and principal ballerina

If anyone knows about the grit and determination it takes to succeed, it’s Misty Copeland (see Misty Motivates). She’s achieved the height of success in her field and yet, she came to ballet late, didn’t follow the accepted success track, and doesn’t fit the physical image that most of us have of a ballerina: she’s athletic and glowingly muscular — more Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire. She’s also had her share of injuries and bounced back.

So let’s take her words to heart and think about today — every day:

Every day is a new opportunity:  Today’s a fresh day, a pristine page. Any idea can come to us. Any new character can jump out and intrigue us. Any knotty plot point can be untied. Any moment can allow us to slip into the flow, where time disappears and words pour out.

Every day, we can start again:  Whatever happened yesterday, today, we can let it go. It’s over. Today, we can start again, we can create something new. We can make a new stand. We can find a way to move toward the goal we’ve set for ourselves and go for it.

Every day, we can be better:  Every day, we can work hard to improve our craft. We can figure out where our weaknesses lie and tackle them. We can dig deeper to find a more inventive way to solve a thorny problem or take a story in a new direction. We can learn something new or apply a new tool that makes our writing stronger, more muscular.

OK, so like Misty, let’s dance our way onto the page today — as we all write on!