Nastran

Reflection

Why do we pause in our lives for reflection when someone has died, or when we’ve reached some milestone like a birthday or certain number of years of something? Why are we not present with each other, with our children, with our family and friends every day? I am as guilty of this as anyone, caught up in work or on my phone or scanning social media… I’m watching my own kids transform before my eyes and find myself making new life decisions, wishing I could retrieve what I might have missed.

Rules

Writing Coach Rule #1 – when crafting a new scene, map it out, start writing and then put it away. DO NOT read what you just wrote, just keep going.

I’ve already broken Rule #1. I could not finish writing today and leave well-enough alone. So when I finished my daily quota (yep, there is a daily word count quota) at 2:34am, I decided I would read it before I sent it to Cheryl for review. And I learned instantly why she told me not to do that. I was sad, I thought my writing was mediocre at best and I really hated how that scene played out. I felt like an amateur and I questioned why I even bothered to pay for this time in the mountains, as if I had any business trying to become an author. So I prayed and asked God to at least help me sleep and try not to feel defeated.

This is the beginning.

I am finally making my dream a reality. For several years I’ve been sitting on a story swirling around in my head and have shared with only a handful of very close family and friends that I actually wanted to write a book. So this week, I arranged time with a writing coach and have started the journey.