The Beauty of Perseverance
Age ain't nothing but a number
I’ve never been a huge sports fan. Maybe it's because I’ve always been pretty terrible at sports. Who was always the last person to be picked for a team in gym? This girl! This is going to sound awful, but I had no qualms about using cramps as an excuse to get out of the gym at least once a month. The only sport I was ever remotely good at was swimming. I attribute it to being a water sign. I only follow two sports sporadically: figure skating and gymnastics. Every year, without fail, I watch the U.S. National Championships and the World Championships for figure skating. I love ice dancing because it perfectly combines music and athleticism, but I also like pairs skating.
This year, 40-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek became the oldest figure skating champion in history when she and her partner Maxime Deschamps won the gold in pairs skating. Deanna’s achievement is even more remarkable because she stopped skating at 17 until she put on a pair of skates again at 33. That’s 16 years! Deanna’s motto is that "Passion has no age limit." Deanna told Olympics.com, "You can change careers in your 30s, 40s, 50s. Grit determination, they don't have an age limit, either.”
Deanna competed as a singles skater in her teens, winning the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and the silver medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships. But four different hip injuries took her out of competitions, and she decided to retire. She studied to become an aesthetician, working at the Geldner Center in Chicago. While attending a work retreat, a team-building exercise prompt, "What is something you'd do if you knew you couldn't fail?" inspired her to revive her interest in skating. At 33, when most skaters think of hanging up their skates after their professional career, Deanna was lacing hers back up. She had her double jumps back within two months of returning to skating. A few months after that, she was doing triple jumps. But instead of competing in singles, she decided to compete in pairs this time. What’s interesting is that it was a coach who suggested that Deanna try pairs. You only need one person in your corner to let you know you can do it.
I can barely stand in a pair of skates, let alone move around a rink, so deciding to try pairs skating in your thirties is amazeballs. Just watching pairs skating can be nerve-wracking. Not only does the man throw his partner across the ice while she turns around in the air three times and lands on one foot, but he’s also throwing her up in the air while she does a twist. And then there are the side-by-side jumps!
Deanna and her first partner, Nathan Bartholomy, came in fourth at their first U.S. Nationals in 2017 after only skating together for a few months. They would win two bronze medals at the following U.S. National Championships before Nathan retired from skating because of injuries. But Deanna wasn’t finished yet! She found herself another partner, Canadian skater Maxime Deschamps. They decided to skate for Canada instead of the United States. By 2023, they were the Canadian National Champions; now, in 2024, they are the World Figure Skating Champions!
I love Deanna Stellato-Dudek’s story because it shows that you should never abandon your dreams. And persistence pays off. As does perseverance. With all the obstacles in Deanna’s path, she kept knocking them down individually. Her passion for her sport kept her going. And I think that’s what we writers must constantly remind ourselves of whenever we get a bad review or a rejection from an agent, or the words just do not come that day. We are doing this because we have stories to tell; if we keep going, someone will want to read them.
Also, I admire Deanna’s ability to pivot from singles skating to pairs. Not many writers have a straight trajectory, just writing one genre. Most of us may start in one genre and then pivot to another, or even if we stay in the same genre, say romance, writing contemporary and historical romances or cozy mysteries and historical mysteries. We constantly have to reinvent ourselves. The ability to pivot is one that every writer needs.
What I’m Reading:
The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico (Ellen Byron): I adore Maria DiRico’s Catering Hall mysteries, not just because they are set in Queens. Mia Carina helps to run the Belle View Banquet Manor in Astoria, Queens, along with her father, who used to be in the mob. She’s hoping for an engagement from her boyfriend Shane when her husband Adam, who she thought had died, turns up alive. Oops! But if Adam is alive, who tried to kill him all those years ago? What makes this series so great are the secondary characters: Mia, her grandmother, her father, a retired mobster, and her brother, who is in the joint. So few cozy mysteries are set in NYC, so I welcomed the Catering Hall mysteries.
The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love - Rachel Feder: I typically juggle two or three books at a time, and The Darcy Myth is my current non-fiction read. The inside cover reads, “What if we’ve been reading Jane Austen all wrong? A funny, eye-opening take on how our contemporary love stories are pretty terrifying.” Color me intrigued can't entirely agree with most of her hypotheses about Darcy, but I agree that women shouldn’t try to fix a man. And Heathcliff is not a romantic hero. She spends a great deal of time discussing Darcy forcing Wickham to marry Lydia, which she feels was a mistake, but I’m not sure what she expected Darcy to do. Kidnap Lydia and take her back to Longbourn? Lydia refused to leave Wickham. If he didn’t marry her, she would be ruined. And what if there had been a child? I don’t think that there were a lot of options. Yes, Wickham is awful, and Lydia is reckless. Darcy tried to make the best out of a bad situation. Sure, you can question his motives, but he saves Lydia’s reputation and, by extension, the Bennets.
What I’m Watching: I’m in a bit of a T.V./streaming-watching at the moment. I gave up on Feud: Capote vs. The Swans because it was boring and repetitious. Not even the costumes or the performances made it worth finishing the series. I also gave up on The New Look, although I’m tempted to go back. I’ve been mainly watching shows like ‘Selling the Hamptons’ and Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveler on Apple TV+, But now that I’m reading The Darcy Myth, I may go back and watch the 2005 Pride & Prejudice to see if it holds up. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new T.V. shows now streaming. Shogun, Manhunt, and The Girls on the Bus are just a few of the shows on my list to watch, along with Shirley and the new film about Prince Andrew’s interview, starring Billie Piper, Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.
What I’m Listening to: Cowboy Carter, of course! I just listened to Beyonce’s version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene, which is fantastic. Beyonce rewrote the lyrics, which I’m sure will drive all the country purists mad, but Dolly had to give her permission for that. If it’s good enough for Dolly, that’s good enough for me. The narrator is no longer begging Jolene; she’s giving her a warning. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the album.
I'm saving that for the next time HBO has a deal.
I'm also watching The Girls on the Bus, and loving it.