I am no expert on writing, but I have climbed a
couple of rungs on the ladder which surprisingly puts me in a position to help
others. I do this gladly. If you haven’t discovered by now, the writing
community is like none other in its support for its members.
Aspiring authors often talk about the frustration
they feel from their inability to complete a story. Many people begin writing only to
abandon their ideas when they reach a dead end or don’t see where their story
is leading. I’m often amazed that regardless of whether my books are good or not,
people hold me in high esteem for the simple fact that I have finished and
published four books. That is a goal many wish to realize.
This is my advice to you. Keep writing. Face the
wall and if you can’t get over it, do what you would do in real life; turn and
go in another direction. Just like a drawing on your Etch a Sketch, when you
can’t go diagonally upwards, you learn to take steps to get you where you want
to go. The same goes for writing. I’m not saying this is easy. Once I’m entrenched
in my favorite characters that the storyline revolves around, I don’t want to go
in another direction and write about someone new anymore then you want to read
about them. But I do, and guess what? Once I’ve met them, and I get to know
them as people, not just filler, I begin to see the potential for
what they can bring to the story.
BUT, it takes more than getting around an obstacle or
two in order to complete your book. AND that’s where my secret wisdom of
writing has helped me through my most challenging times. Writing a novel is like
cleaning my daughter’s room.
So my daughter is interesting, far too interesting
to focus on the humdrum activity of cleaning. Periodically, I attempt to put
something in a drawer and find that it is welded shut from the sheer volume of
its contents. Worse yet, I attempt to find something that she has borrowed and I'm forced to look in her closet. I never want to do it. I resist with
every fiber of my being, but ultimately I am drawn to her room, preferably when
she spends the night at a friend’s house so I know I have uninterrupted time to
work through all the areas that need attention. My goal is to bring order from
the chaos of her room.
As I stand in the doorway, I am daunted by the sheer
magnitude of work that lies before me. My eyes glance from her obscured dresser
to her rocking chair that hides many sins, along the wall past her dresser
where she pushes everything in an attempt to clear her floor. Behind her bed,
well, let’s leave that alone. And then there is her closet. Her double closet
which can no longer slide to the left or right because of all the clothes and
toys pushing out against it trying to break free from the darkness. I would
too.
But enough. Cleaning her room is not for the timid,
and I am no novice at this game. I pick a place to start, something simple.
Something that won’t overwhelm me. I choose the underwear drawer and quickly
pry the drawer open and lift it to the ground. I am no longer surprised at its
contents. I simply remove leotards, bathing suits, hair brushes, anything that
was quickly deposited in an effort to clean. After that I take a large trash
bag and begin collecting the pajamas and socks that my daughter has long
outgrown. I take several cathartic moments to match socks and organize what
remains before depositing the now lighter drawer back into the dresser. I sit
back with a feeling of satisfaction and actually open and close the drawer several
times to see my handy work.
This small amount of success gives the confidence to
move on to the tougher drawers, and then to the surface of the dresser. The
entire process takes me well over an hour. By the time I finish, my back is
aching and my knees are stiff from sitting in the same position for too long.
But then I look at what I’ve accomplished and I feel a sense of pride. I take
out the bags of clothing that I’ve removed and steel myself for another area to
tackle. It gets harder as I work through the room. I can’t finish one area
until I work out problems somewhere else. And ultimately everything is at a
standstill until I confront my greatest challenge; the closet. At my weakest
moment I turn to look over my shoulder and see the center of her room is piled
high with collections of clothes, toys, costumes, shoes, and I don’t think I’ll
ever make sense of it all. How can this all work out? I don’t question it for
long. I look back at the closet and focus on the work ahead. Slowly but surely,
I sift through the contents and find homes for what is on the floor. Hours
pass, the pain in my back increases. Aside from occasional bathroom breaks, I
work non-stop. Long after my husband has cooked dinner for himself and my son,
and the sun has gone down, I am able to take a step back towards the door and
look into her room. My eyes glance from the dresser which is now organized and
neat, to the floor which is free from clutter, to a bed that hides nothing
behind it, and finally a closet that has a place for everything and extra room to
spare.
This is no different from the writing process. We
all have piles of ideas cluttering our brains. Some areas are easier to tackle
and we face them first. Others we are too intimidated to confront. But have
faith that by confronting each pile, one at a time, they eventually end up
where they belong. Your head will clear all of the garbled mess into cohesive
stories with interesting characters, and twisting plots. You have a lot of
sorting to do, but that’s writing. Don’t walk away when it gets difficult. Peel
away one thought at a time, one topic at a time, one dilemma at a time and your
story will reveal itself just as my daughter’s room does.