Yesterday, I got to thinking how much knowing the writing format really does prepare you for the world…on my eighteenth birthday, I went to the hill that overlooked the lake by our house & pen in hand, sketched out my goals for the next five years (because that’s what every just-turned-eighteen-year-old does, right?).
I can’t remember the goals, but I’m sure they were orderly & pragmatic: get my degree, start my master’s, get married…got none of them accomplished, but undeterred, every year since then, I’ve sketched out the five year goals.
What I realized, as I came to learn about writing, is this is nothing more than a plot arc, a template for character development…cycles are all around us & what has become very real in my life is the 5 years…not just for goal setting, but for the disappointments in life…
The things that break my heart today are the things I’ll be grateful for in five years (which is why I try to say “thank you” even when the blood’s pouring & my heart’s shattering)…the publisher who didn’t want me in 2006/2007–thank goodness, because I would have been locked into a certain style/genre of writing I frankly can’t do & double thank goodness: because they passed on my manuscript, I had to do more research & searching, and five years later have an AMAZING band of writing friends–folks I wouldn’t have been lucky enough to know had that publisher taken me. That medical issue–thank you, thank you–cause I had a chance to adjust my lifestyle. The job I didn’t get gave me more time to write…
It’s almost 2013 and I know amazing things will happen. I also know there’ll be things that will drive me to my knees…I just hope I remember to enjoy the soft earth when my face is getting shoved into the mud ’cause that’s where all the growth happens…
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