If you don’t live in Florida, you may not know what the title means. Even as I write this article, Orlando is experiencing hurricane-like conditions. Sheets of rain are whipping on the wings of sixty mph winds. Thunder and lightning are causing power surges. The street is full of ankle-high water. My house is shaking and trees are moaning in protest.
Where did it come from? I went outside just a while ago and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. Something suddenly and drastically changed.
But, before I could finish typing that last sentence two things happened:
- I was booted off my computer for the third time while trying to write this article.
- I noticed it’s getting lighter outside.
Ahhhh …The storm will soon pass. That’s the nature of the daily summer storms in Florida.
Such are the storms of change with our prose in a writer’s life. You will be enjoying rich warmth of the sun’s rays and suddenly the storm hits, threatening to destroy everything you’ve worked for. It hits without warning. Oh sure, the weatherman predicted storms to hit at precisely this time today. But, it was so beautiful outside! Not a cloud anywhere! Surely he was wrong!
Here in the “big O,” we just hunkered down in our storm shelter and rode the storm out. OK, so it was my house, but you get the point. It’s rapidly moving into someone else’s neighborhood. I made it through. This is a great metaphor to help you understand your writing and quest for publication. Storms spring up in a second out of nowhere, hit hard and fast, then just as furiously blast off over the horizon and peace is restored. Writing gets back to normal. We hear voices in our heads again.
You can’t predict all your writing storms, but you can hunker down and ride them out. Hurricane parties in bunkers are pretty fun in Florida when we get our eyes off the storm. Once it’s gone —and it always does end — we once again enjoy the beautiful sunshine that the … umm … Sunshine State is known for. It’s what we do. We’re Writers with a Voice!
Until next time, put on your galoshes, hunker down and ride the waves with your characters!
~*~
Reba J. Hoffman is a natural encourager whose works appear in publications such as Running for the Women’s Soul by Road Runner Sports and The Good Fight by Donna Hicken. Her latest book, The First 20 Days, The Roadmap to Your Success, debuted in 2009. She holds a PhD in Clinical Counseling and is the founder and president of New Hope Institute of Counseling. She is now using her experience with people to create her current work in progress, a romantic suspense.
