"Stick-to-itiveness"

       Yes, Elizabeth, there is a "stick-to-itiveness" (since my daughter once asked me), it is, indeed, a word.

       Imagine what an accomplishment it is:  five different parts of speech--a verb, a preposition, a pronoun, an adjective, all rolled up into a single noun.

       Why won't "determination," "perseverance," "assiduousness," do instead?  Why this patched together hunk of common clay?  Maybe it's that dogged seat-of-the-pants-to-the-chair grit that no other more "respectable" term will quite convey.

       Huzzah for "stick-to-itiveness."  The gummy, tackyness of it is virtually gluing everything in place right now:  "Keep at it, hold to task, courage, focus, you can do it, you're doing it, hey...there, you've DONE it!"