It’s the good kind of starting over – the productive kind.
I’ma tell you a story.
Once upon a time, I was a young mom with little kids*. I loved that job. I was pretty good at it. My kids were funny and smart and obedient. Not particularly coiffed or well-dressed, but if I had to choose something to skimp on, that would be it. So upon that time, I had this little gripe. It was this: I do the same things, over and over every day, and nobody (I think that meant Husband and Kids) notices if I do it. Only if I don’t do it. Like the dishes and the laundry and the diapers and the cooking and the vacuuming and the bathing and the bill-paying and the reading and the singing and the playing. If I skip it, you can be sure everyone would notice. But when I keep doing, it feels like wasted effort.
Do you know this feeling?
If you’re there, right now, I’m here to tell you that it will end. And I’m not here to tell you that you will miss it. But you might. I’m just saying. But hey, the thing is, that too shall pass, and the day will come that when you spend a day doing something, it will Stay Done.
This is a great thing, no?
Yesterday I started a new writing project. It’s not Top Secret or anything, but it’s also not really in the Let’s Share This zone yet. It’s different than what I’ve done before. And at the risk of sounding like an infatuated girl at the brink of a new romance, I think I really like it. It’s fun. It’s new. It’s different. It’s short. (That’s not new. That’s standard. But still, it is short.) And the pleasure of opening a new blank document and typing around on it until, a thousand words later, I’m laughing and kind of can’t wait to show it to my Kids? That is the good kind of starting over. And even if I decide sometime later that this should never, ever see the light of day? I can keep it in my file, the one behind the bumblebee icon on the computer, the file where there are plenty of stories that don’t deserve the light of day. Some of them full book length. But they are there. Written. Started, and kept from day to day.
I can’t look back on that and say, “Wah. Nobody noticed that thing I did. Maybe it didn’t even happen.”
Well, I can, but I shouldn’t. And I won’t.
Because it did happen. And it can happen over and over, every day.
Happy writing!
*Now I’m a young mom with big kids. Funny how that works, at least in my own head.
(24) Comments for this blog
I’m glad someone else has those files of full length stories that shouldn’t see the light of day. That gives me much relief. Happy Writing to you, too! I’m writing something very, very different, and I’m hoping very much that it will be great.
I’m glad someone else has those files of full length stories that shouldn’t see the light of day. That gives me much relief. Happy Writing to you, too! I’m writing something very, very different, and I’m hoping very much that it will be great.
Oh, I like that. Plus I have full length books that will never see the light of day either. I may pull them out of storage for a good laugh, but that’s about it. =)
Oh, I like that. Plus I have full length books that will never see the light of day either. I may pull them out of storage for a good laugh, but that’s about it. =)
I’m so there now. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband. He does notice the clean house and clothing in his bureau. He’s also the biggest taskmaster: “How many words today? You didn’t write today?” Imagine a big frown.
He keeps me honest with my writing, but he doesn’t see the time it takes for revisons and research. The ‘I need to get out of my head’ moments I find myself in the midst of in order to look at the story objectively stages. Yet, I know he’ll be the one loudly cheering me on, when I make that final plunge. (Hugs)Indigo
I’m so there now. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband. He does notice the clean house and clothing in his bureau. He’s also the biggest taskmaster: “How many words today? You didn’t write today?” Imagine a big frown.
He keeps me honest with my writing, but he doesn’t see the time it takes for revisons and research. The ‘I need to get out of my head’ moments I find myself in the midst of in order to look at the story objectively stages. Yet, I know he’ll be the one loudly cheering me on, when I make that final plunge. (Hugs)Indigo
Wow. I am the main character in the beginning of your story 🙂 I am so there. And it’s good to know that things will change (because it’s a happy thought and also because it will make me appreciate the stage of life I’m in). I can’t wait to hear about your new project…
Wow. I am the main character in the beginning of your story 🙂 I am so there. And it’s good to know that things will change (because it’s a happy thought and also because it will make me appreciate the stage of life I’m in). I can’t wait to hear about your new project…
Thanks, Becca…I needed this today… 🙂
Thanks, Becca…I needed this today… 🙂
Starting over is such a beautiful thing. That fresh, lovely MS that’s all your own? No sharing. No critiquing. It’s as perfect as it’s ever going to get. It’s shame it doesn’t last forever. But it gets lovelier in its own way.
Starting over is such a beautiful thing. That fresh, lovely MS that’s all your own? No sharing. No critiquing. It’s as perfect as it’s ever going to get. It’s shame it doesn’t last forever. But it gets lovelier in its own way.
Hooray for new projects! The only downside for me to starting a new one is that it makes me completely uninterested in edits on old stuff.
But I do them.
I just complain a lot.
Hooray for new projects! The only downside for me to starting a new one is that it makes me completely uninterested in edits on old stuff.
But I do them.
I just complain a lot.
I can’t wait to hear about your new project! Anything you do is great. New projects keeps the the juices flowing.
I can’t wait to hear about your new project! Anything you do is great. New projects keeps the the juices flowing.
Thanks for sharing some book writing joy. Blank document happiness just can’t be beat. 🙂
Thanks for sharing some book writing joy. Blank document happiness just can’t be beat. 🙂
I can really relate to what you said about being a mom! I definitely remind myself that it is a finite period of time in my life.
I can really relate to what you said about being a mom! I definitely remind myself that it is a finite period of time in my life.
It’s like we’re the same person! This starting-over business is a bee-yoo-tiful thing. :o)
It’s like we’re the same person! This starting-over business is a bee-yoo-tiful thing. :o)
Oh how this resonates with me. Beauteous.
And I want to start a new story now…
Oh how this resonates with me. Beauteous.
And I want to start a new story now…