The Ripple Effect

If you have been writing for long, I think you may certainly agree with what I am about to say.  If you are new to writing, you may come to realize my words are true. 

WRITING IS A LONG, FOREVER JOURNEY.

There, I've said it. 

To the ill informed who think writing a book is as simple as throwing some words down on paper, I say writing is like planting an acorn and having the patience to wait for the mighty oak to mature into something beautiful.

To the ill equipped who think writing a book doesn't mean they need to know the basics of plot, sentence structure, characterization or the dozen other parts which make up a good story, I say take away those things from classical writers like Shakespeare or Chaucer and all you will have are kindergarten tales best told around a cozy campfire.

Great writing takes time...lots of it...and a big ol' heaping of patience to carry you through during those dark moments when you doubt your ability to create. And those moments will surely come if you are truly a writer at heart. Perfectionism will sometimes override common sense and you might begin to wonder why you are on this journey in the first place.

But then you will start to remember all those who came before you...other travelers on the path to publication who, while in the dark uncertain moments of their own beginnings, also took a moment to wonder about their own journey. And the one thing which made them stand out amongst the crowd of hopeful want to be authors? They managed to take that leap of faith, to cast one small pebble of belief into the water and watch the ripple eventually turn into something bigger than themselves. They nurtured a core belief in themselves they are good enough, strong enough to be on that path. And in this one defining moment they lit the way for the rest of us.

All we need to do now is toss our pebble in as well and have the patience to let the ripple effect takes us wherever our writing journey may lead us...