In Warmer Waters
I am out of the muck and treading much warmer waters.
How, you may ask?
The honest answer is this: I said to hell with the first chapter. Literally. After months of struggling with it, this is what I said: “You’re wearing me out, big boy. Big time. I’m not going to have an ounce of strength left to write the rest of this damn book if I keep sitting down every day, trying to figure out what the hell you’re all about. So I’m moving on. I’ll come back later when - I trust - the rest of the book has helped me learn what you were supposed to be. But for now, I gotta get out. I gotta move forward. Otherwise, I’ll be stuck up to my eyes in mud and won’t be able to see clearly for months.
And so that’s what I did. I jumped feet first into Chapter Two.
Today, I finished Chapter Eight.
It was another good writing lesson for me to learn. I am forever straining to get things just right (dare I say the word perfect here?) before I take the next step. But learning that I can move ahead - and sometimes soar ahead - without everything being exactly in its place is a sit-up-and-pay-attention-here moment.
Writing teaches me so much about life - every day. If I can learn to apply the lessons I learn on the page - trust, let go, listen, pay attention, be gentle, be strong, be fearless and honest - to my every day life, I think every day I will get a little closer to becoming the person I have always dreamed of becoming.
With or without chapter one.
Onward, always.
CG