Saturday, January 20, 2018

The Journey is Only Half Begun

I often wonder how Odysseus thought when he faced yet another struggle in reaching his final destination.  All the years and the obstacles he needed to overcome just so he could continue his journey.  It had to have been agonizing.

I realize he wasn't a real person, but often this is life isn't it? Consistently throwing us off course and asking us to find our way back to the path.  

So when I think of this initial idea that has evolved into the story it has, I feel so lost and hopeless. 'I will never finish!' was something that crossed my mind more than once.  And once we started having children in our life, I was perfectly content to leave it all be until the kids were at least in middle school.

My Mom, napping at our favorite lake house.
Then we lost my mom.  My #1 fan. Yep, even over my husband.  Because she had been following my writing and stories all my life.  She thought I was so creative, telling stories when I was 5 about the life I had already lived and all the adventures I had experienced.

"How could you possibly have been to college and been married and had children if you are only 5 years old?" she asked me one day.

"Because I'm ageing backwards," I replied.  "I'm only getting younger, you just don't know it. And I'm hiding in this family because there are lots of kids and I blend in better.  No one would suspect."

True story.  

 Losing her changed me.  I suddenly realized that waiting was stupid.  I wanted to write, and now I wanted to write for her.  But I just wasn't ready yet.

Then I was ready.  And I pounded out my first full draft in 2016.  And then I plummeted into the dark abyss of my mind and had to crawl back out.  That took a while.  

So I think of Odysseus and the fact that it took him twenty years to get home.  I think of J.K. Rowling and how it took her six years to write her first novel.  Less time than it took me, but hey, I'm somewhere in the middle.  And I feel a little less helpless.

And who cares how long it takes to write the first?  As long as I get it in the end.  It's not about how fast you get there, it's not even how you get there, it's about getting there in the end.  Isn't that what it's always been about?

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