Balance and Butt Time

Have you ever tried to take up a new sport? Master a new skill? Do you remember how frustrated you got? I’ll use learning to cast a fly rod, just as an example. I took lessons when I started, and at first, I just focused on trying to keep the line in the air…rod moves from ten to two position (think of a clock) and timing is critical to keeping more and more line feeding out and in the air (hopefully without hitting yourself in the back of the head with a fly!). All that seemed hard enough, but then I had to actually aim at something in the water and be able to hit it, without slapping the water and scaring the fish! Seemed impossible in the beginning.

Being a neophyte in writing feels a bit like that; how do I remember all the things I need to at the same time? Everything feels awkward, and just…. not comfortable. I’ll learn a new skill - say plotting. I end up focusing on that so much that my characters become flat and uninteresting! What’s really frustrating is that, at first, I don’t realize what’s happened – just that I suddenly have lost interest in the story, and can’t make myself sit down and write. I spent a month flogging myself, accusing myself of being lazy and questioning my ability to become a professional writer. A month wasted.

Well, maybe not wasted totally, because I now understand what was wrong, and maybe next time I’ll recognize it more quickly. This road to being a good writer is a long and convoluted one, much more so than I realized when I began.

It’s like giving birth – if you truly knew what you were getting yourself into, would you do it? I think it depends on when you’re asked…when they put the baby in your arms for the first time? Of course! In the middle of labor? Maybe not so much….