A writer’s life is a strange, wonderful thing embraced by what are essentially a group of driven (stubborn) introverts. I’m certainly not complaining. I love it. When not hiding behind laptops or closeted in dungeons, we get to meet fabulous professionals, incredible readers and each other. We have the perfect excuse to chase down strange interests and do our best imitations of Indiana Jones digging through libraries for obscure facts. Sometimes though, we’re just Doctor Jones sitting around a quiet classroom between lectures grading papers.
Writing and publishing consist of a lot of scurrying away from boulders followed by plenty of grading.
This week, I’m stuck between the pages. Both The Wizard’s Bane and Hijacked are edited, revised, glossed and out in the hands of various kinds of readers. I feel as if there’s a mountain of tasks needing done to get them through their upcoming launch. There is, only problem? Everything seems to be waiting on someone else. I’m reading, catching up on movies, and doing research. I’m challenging myself with a Sea Monster short story, and even tried out something my daughter called Urban Exploration which felt a lot like trespassing. I’m resting. I’m feeding myself creative comfort food and priming those artistic engines for the next project push. I know how important it is to stop and feed the machine.
Even so, I FEEL as if I should be doing more.
My brain dances on the edge of sleep trying to makeup for being lazy all day. It’s plotting this and worrying over that, but the targets beneath its reticles are far off projects, not the next book in a series but the one after that. I’m spinning on the girders of a burgeoning high rise – between worlds, out of time and out of sync and waiting….
What did wise old Grandpa Tolkien write? “Not all that wander are lost…”
In all my wandering, I’ve learned a few things, most important among them is that life is really a journey not so much about the destination as about enjoying the road. Sometimes you’re driving, but sometimes you have to surrender the wheel and gaze out the window. Use that time to rest, to catch up on your TBR stack, to enjoy simple pleasures, to wander between the pages. Don’t forget to take care of you. New worlds are coming. New adventures await on the horizon.
Magesty claims there are plenty of balls to throw in the meantime. Myth insists that the backlog of belly rubbing needs tending – an accomplished dog servant needs only one hand to hold a book.
