Today I’m heading back to work. I’m starting the final book in my YA series, The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart. While I didn’t get everything I wanted accomplished during my month off, I got a lot done. More important, though, I was able to take a much needed moment to breath and relax. Finishing my second book, the holidays, the anniversary of my mom passing – the last six months were very stressful and it was wonderful to take a break from everything.
For me, starting a new book is like standing at the bottom of a very steep mountain trail and looking up. The journey seems impossible, the climb never ending and I always wonder if I have it what it takes to complete the task. But like Lao Tzu said, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, so today I am taking that first step. It’s overwhelming, scary and exciting all at the same time.
I’m sad to say goodbye to these characters I’ve spent years developing. Building their world has been so much fun it is going to be hard to let them go. But I’ve been feeling the pull of new story ideas in recent months – sparks of excitement when I come across a new traits for a character or a story premise that gets my mind spinning late at night. I never imagined I’d actually be able to finish one book. Now here I am, starting to write my third book and with ideas for even more books. It’s amazing what happens when you kick fear to the curb and start doing what you really want to do.
The next few months will be a roller coaster of emotion (apologies in advance to my family) as I build the first draft of my manuscript one page at a time. I like to think of the first draft as “filling the sandbox”. I’m not building sandcastles at the moment, just pouring sand into the box one bucket at a time, so I can build castles when I am ready. It makes my daily writing more approachable if I don’t look at the big picture all at once.
As I take my first step, like any journey, I hope for the best, expect the worst and know I’ll end up somewhere in the middle. I wish you luck on whatever journey you’re starting at the moment and urge you not to get overwhelmed with the big picture at the beginning. Just focus on that first step and keep putting one foot in front of the other. We’ll all get there eventually.
I’ll also be testing out another philosophy by Lao Tzu “by letting it go, it all gets done.” I sure hope this applies to housework!
Happy Tuesday! 💕