Just finished working in Program Operations for the latest WorldCon (Renovation) and started planning for the next one, in Chicago, when I’m running the department. Not because I’m going to do it so much differently (let’s face it, when you learn from the best, there’s not a lot of ways to improve on it) but because it’ll be me.

Still, I’m fairly nervous about it, and the why of that didn’t become clear until the train ride home from Reno, when I had time to think.

After Raleigh (last year’s NASFic) I’m convinced that I can handle most anything a convention can throw at me. But the unsettling question is will I?

That’s what it all comes down to, each and every day, for all of us. We most definitely can, if we have the will. I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Vince Lombardi (while there is no proof he said precisely this, it’s close enough to his thought that I’m sure he won’t mind being associated with it):

The difference between the successful man and the rest is not a matter of luck, or intelligence, or even talent; it is a matter of will.

The “matter of will” is not the “I wish” type so many of us confuse with will. It’s the determination and mental discipline to do what it takes to achieve what we are willing. If my will falters, I cannot achieve, and that’s not a lack of ability, but a lack of will.

As so often with quotations from St Vincent of Lambeau, it applies to so much more than football. Success, no matter how we define it, is never free of cost. It has a price, rarely measured in mere money.

The only question that matters is: will I pay it?