I recently was perusing Susie’s website. One by one I flipped through each of her novels, thinking how good this one was or how I’d need to grab that one on Amazon. Then it hit me. I could actually tell the entire writer’s journey using just her titles! So…
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There’s Always a Way
Yesterday I had a 10:00am appointment to record an upcoming radio program. There was just one problem. We’d had a snow storm come through three days before. The whole area was covered in snow and, even worse, slick sheet ice.
I could not get a vehicle out of my community so I did what any dedicated radio talk show guest would do. I decided to walk the two miles to the station.
Big mistake.
I found myself slipping and sliding through slick ice, slushing though snow and walking on top of shrubbery that had been buried when the snow plows came through earlier.
Read the RestThrough the Storm
I read something this week that gave me pause:
Your greatest test is when you are able to bless someone else while you are going through your own storm.
I pondered that for quite some time. It permeated my heart because life has wonderful moments of peace, joy and rapture sandwiched between the storms of life. It’s easy to get caught up in the trial of the moment and miss out on the blessing of reaching out to help another human being in need.
Or even worse, instead of reaching out, you could lash out at others when they share their teenie tiny little challenge with you. Doesn’t it always seem that right at the second you get the fortieth rejection letter, your crit partner calls and fusses because they only got a four book deal when they just knew they’d get six?!
Read the RestGetting Past Stuck
Ever seen one of those mouse traps with the sticky stuff on it? Rather than a spring-loaded steel bar that whacks the rodent in the head, it glues them to the trap. They smell the cheese, walk onto the trap and are instantly attached to it.
Don’t you feel like that sometimes? I mean, you’re tempted by the luster of being a published author. You inch closer, perhaps a bit cautiously at first. Ahhhh, but the lure of the cheese propels you forward.
Finally, when your prize gets within an arm’s length, you suddenly become trapped. Try as you may, you can’t budge from where you are. And, wouldn’t you know, where you landed in the trap places you just out of reach of the cheese. It’s so close you can smell it but you just can’t partake of it.
The writing journey is like that sometimes. It doesn’t matter where you are on your journey, you’ll eventually end up in the trap. And, regardless of the degree of success you’ve already achieved, stuck is stuck.
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