One step forward, two steps back.

My favorite Disney movie of all time is "Meet the Robinsons". I cry like a baby every time I watch it. I'm a pretty soft hearted person so I cry at a lot of things, but rarely do I cry at something over and over again like I do this movie.

You would think I cry about the sweet boy who just wants to belong to family, or the family that so willingly loves him despite his quirks. But the real reason I cry is because of the theme of the movie. Your heart goes out to this poor kid who has tried so hard his whole life and never gotten anywhere. When finally, at the end of the movie (to the tune of "Small Wonders" by Rob Thomas one of my most favorite songs) this quote plays -

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” - Walt Disney

Then all the words fade out and all you see is "Keep Moving Forward" - Walt Disney.

Why does this tug at my heart strings so? Perhaps it is because I have failed a lot. We all have have. Yet, this movie sheds hope. A hope that if we just keep moving forward eventually we will succeed.

As a writer it is all too easy to get discouraged. You have to be criticized, it's part of becoming better. But that criticism can hurt. After all, how many hours have you been sitting at a computer typing word after precious word. You want everything to matter, so when someone tells you it doesn't work it can be pretty soul crushing.

Then I think about this movie. There's this one character who lets something as small as losing a baseball game at age ten ruin his life.

Isn't that what criticism is? A baseball game where we don't quite catch the ball. But with writing, we can change it, and we need to let others help us. So that one day, we can have that success. In whatever small measure it may come. Keep Moving Forward!