I like detours, the side roads and alleyways that take you off course. It’s the adventures along the way that make the journey memorable rather than just a straight shot from A to B.
But, I do have to watch that my attention doesn’t get drawn to the smaller shiny things for too long because then I might give up the bigger goal that waits on the horizon, a little fuzzier, a little less immediate and glamorous for the hard work needed to attain it. I suspect I may be my own worst enemy sometimes.
In my writing, sometimes the side roads take me away from what I’m supposed to be doing which is rewriting the ‘brilliant’ idea I had years before when I woke at 3 am excited by the kernel of my novel and could hardly wait to finish the first draft. All these years later as I polish the manuscript in smaller and smaller circles until my fingers get numb, I sometimes get sidetracked by things like playwriting. Ooo, maybe I should try that and off I go for a few months. Maybe I need a Masters or maybe fifty more opinions on where others think my book should go.
I’ve taken the advice of so many experts and tried to write short stories for contests or a novella to at least get my name in print which I have. Twas fun. It’s good to branch out and deepen my skill set. But, as I’m traipsing down the side roads I do wonder if I’ve lost track of my main trajectory, the goal of all this wandering, which is to get my novel published. If it’s good, but not good enough then I’ll never get there. And no amount of side roads will take me back to the main road because I have NO sense of direction and sometimes get lost.
So, I will renew my drive to my final destination and pack some snacks for the long ride ahead. Now I need to get back to my desk because I know that AIC (ass in chair) is the only thing that will get me where I want to go.
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