How many times have we heard the phrase”Writing is a journey.”? (And yes, this is when an editor would come in handy because I’m too lazy to go look up the rule about phrases and punctuation at the end of a sentence. Just go with it, okay?) Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes. Writing is a journey. The road to publication. Yada, yada. What it is is a long slog. And that double “is” is anouther editorial situation. In addition to the trip between Chapter 1 (or Prologue) and The End resembles today’s missive from the Big U:
Silver, should you ever, suddenly, round a bend on the road of life and see before you an enormous uncharted mountain with towering cliffs, jagged rocks, and seemingly impenetrable walls, please consider it a sign that your dream is considerably more worthwhile than you had previously imagined, that you’re exactly where you should be, and you’re about to get to the very best part.
Just sayin’ –
The Universe
©www.tut.comP.S. Thanks for all the goosebumps, Silver.
That pretty much explains the process. There we writers are, typing (or scribbling) along, our characters rolling along their jaunt through the plot and boom! There’s the defining moment of the tale. The turning point. The crisis. The climax. And then it’s all downhill from there. Not that we can coast to the end or anything. I think the point the Universe is making comes down to this: Writing a book IS a journey, with lots of twists and turns. It starts with a dream. There’s frustration and despair and writer’s block. There’s ennui. (I’ve always wanted to use that word but I don’t write historicals so…) There’s self-recrimination of the I’m-not-good-enough or this-is-total-crap variety. And then there are the moments when we make ourselves laugh or cry and our characters surprise and delight us. And then we get it. Our dream is worthwhile and we ARE about to get to the very best part. Just sayin’…
Happy trails, m’friends. Along the way, writer and readers, drop me a line about the very best part of your day today.
Silver James 
Writing is a journey comprised of an obstacle course… and a marathon made up of little sprints… and a crawl on bare knees across rough carpet… sprinkled with the occasional Bataan Death March. And when you reach your destination – a published book – you have to start back out on a whole ‘nother journey. I don’t recommend it and yet I can’t stop doing it. I have serious doubts about my sanity sometimes, doncha know.
The very best part of my day today… I’ll leave that in the hands of the big U. Yesterday, I actually got off my ever-widening buns and wandered around the yard for a half hour. Today, it’s raining. I might use this indoor time to bake cinnamon rolls. And work on my editing.
Work on your editing and then have cinnamon rolls as your reward. Yay for yard wandering and rain both. And yes, you described the whole publishing gig beautifully!
Being a writer is one hard job. I give you guys kudos.
The best part of my day was getting the car washed and seeing it’s lovely paint again after all those weeks of being covered in salt. It will be ruined tomorrow since it’s going to rain all day but for a few hours it will have looked great.
I hope the day went well ☺️.
A clean car is a good thing! Hopefully, the rain will wash most of the salt away so there’s just streaks and not dirt. 😉 It’s been okay for a day. Hope yours went well, too.