I had a revelation earlier today as I watched a video on facebook (yeah, I’m that type of person). To be honest, most of the video was unrelated to my realization since it was a politically and racially charged video; you know, the type of videos people share on facebook when you have a liberal group of friends, but I digress. The video spoke about the stereotype of being smart and clarified the line of thinking Japanese people have. I can’t say that the video is 100% accurate, but–according to the speaker who is Japanese–Japanese people believe that discipline eventually overtakes intelligence.

That got me thinking about writing as per usual, and I returned to the one advice people, especially big named writers like Mr. Stephen King, give: sit down and write. It’s the same advice I’ve been given countless of time. I mean, the no. 1 advice my writing professor gave to me during my MFA program was just that. During every workshop, he’d look at me and say, “finish it.”

For the longest time before that I’d always been told to revise my work. That writing is never over. That writing is a living creature that needs to keep on going. And, well, I still agree with that. But, now I’m starting to realize that it’s not all about writing the same story. I know; a shocker, ain’t it? But, I guess it took years for me to finally realize what the world keeps telling me.

Be consistent. Write. Work. Success and everything else will come.

So I guess, what I ended up taking from that video wasn’t to see beyond stereotypes. I already fight those on a daily basis. I mean, people always tell me to write about Chicanos or Mexicans cause I’m Hispanic. Instead, I focused on the idea why Japanese people seem to be so successful and smart when it has nothing to do with that. It’s all about discipline and consistent. If you’re reading this and you’re a creator (a writer, painter, poet, musician, or anything like it), stop reading and go make something. Success will come all by itself.