…I s’pose it should’ve been kinda obvious from the outset, when my lifelong hero was, and remains, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill… not so much for all the massive impact he made on the WURLD’s history… nor even his incredible achievement in winning the Nobel Prize for Literature for his four-volume series on The History of the English Speaking Peoples while pursuing his political career… he did screw up big time on things like the Gallipoli Campaign and his dealings with the Irish… but above all, he was the ultimate maverick… back in his day, polite society wouldn’t have referred to him as a ‘rebel’, but more of a ‘non-conformist’… and in moments p’raps of delusion, I imagine a modicum of my own traits may have stemmed from observing his… specifically, I’ve always treated as a challenge the statement from certain people, ‘you can’t do THAT!’… as a child growing up, like many thousands of others, in the frugal environment of the slums, in my case Dockside Govan in Glasgow, I was not supposed to win a scholarship to attend a fee -paying school in the upper echelons of that city’s education system… the bursary took care of that… and when attending that institution, I was not supposed to carry a violin case and wear a posh-looking school uniform when walking to and from the bus terminus on the way to school… a good pair of fists and an escapologist’s turn of foot overcame that no-no… I was not supposed to play centre-forward at my smallish height and weight in the then Scottish First Division football league as a teenage recruit… three years of being top goal-scorer answered that little episode… I was not supposed to enter and win medals for unaccompanied singing at the Gaelic National Mods in Scotland as a non-native speaker… a six -year spell in the beautiful Island of Tobermory in the Scottish Hebrides and two dedicated music and language teacher ladies overcame that particular obstacle… I was not supposed to be given a paid leave sojourn to attend and graduate from the Harvard Graduate School of Business… digging in and learning my craft as a Trainee Financial Master of the Universe sorted that one out… I was not supposed to start writing novels at the age of sixty… seven years on, and a steep learning curve later in the self-publishing and traditional publishing industries has seen 82,000+ downloads of the Jack Calder series thus far… and let me tell yeez sum’thing, Lads and Lassies of Blog Land… we’ve only just begun… my advice to emb’dy who wants to listen is this — bring on the naysayers… welcome the folks who wanna try to put you down… embrace the Negative Nellies… and then laugh at them all and just do yer stuff… and in the WURDS of Sir Winnie, ‘never, never, ever give up!’… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!…
ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH—BE MY GUEST!
Can I just mention, there’s a rather unnerving similarity in the face between you and the Great Man – if you adopted the stern Father-of-the-Nation demeanour I think you could be mistaken for brothers…
LikeLiked by 1 person
..oh dear, i didn’t think he was THAT bad-looking! 🙂 LUVZYA!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The expression ‘I can’t do it’ is valid- as long as you remember to add on
‘unless I give it a try.’ 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
..correct, m’Lady, Val:):)
LikeLike
Of course young folk like you shouldn’t worry about the naysayers. I published my first book at 71 years of age. Think I care about those who say I should hang it up? Not a bit. You are an inspiration as well that man.
LikeLiked by 1 person
..we’re all sluggin’ at it, that man 🙂 cheers, John 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good for you
LikeLiked by 1 person
…cheeers, that man , Eric …:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your life would make a good book, Seumas! I look stories about showing up the naysayers. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
…it’s all the unspoken bits that would make an even better read, m’Lady, Diane.:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure you have quite a tale to tell, Seumas. 🙂
LikeLike
Great blog, Seumas. Nice one. Never let them pull you down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
…nil illegitimus carborundum:)
LikeLike
I enjoyed your blog, Seumas. I always loved it when someone told me it was said I’d never accomplish something which I did. I always felt I had not much to lose and a lot to gain, so I’d give it a try. I didn’t want to face the fact someday that I didn’t succeed because I just didn’t try. My mother used to tell me if (giving a friend of mine’s name) had done it, I could, because I was just as smart as my friend. It helps to have a supporter. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
…oh, that’s for sure… and plenty of the other kind of people, the really great supporters, have been in there along the way, also 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think more or less everybody has “someone” who in a way spur us to go on… you win following your desires and being spured, and I’m glad for that, I’m a “fan” of you!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
…and I’m a fan of yours too, m’Lady, Rosa:):) mwaah 🙂
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes and commented:
As a late developer myself, I couldn’t agree more!
LikeLiked by 1 person
…cheeeeeers, m’Lady… go slay ‘em!:)
LikeLike
Yes, pooh on all the people that say it can be done. Tell me I can’t do something, and I will make sure that I can!!!!!
What an impressive life you have led thus far….you should write a book!!!!!!
LikeLike