I'll try to keep it a regular Thursday thing, but sometimes life takes over, so if that happens, please forgive me!
Journeys
I've been thinking today about how far I've come on this writing journey, and how stubborn I've been along the way. But along with that thought, since I've had a fantastic time, maybe being stubborn isn't such a bad thing. Let me try to explain. This probably isn't a linear explanation, so it's a bit of a roundabout way to explain.
For Book Club this month, we're reading The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide, and a line in there struck me - "... a child for whom the arrival was nothing compared with the joys of the journey."
I don't have children but I have nieces and nephews and what strikes me with kids is the sheer joy they can get from something an adult often overlooks. Have you seen a kid who spots something incredible while an adult is trying to get them somewhere? The child will exclaim, joy beams across their face, they stop and stare, drinking in whatever has caught their eye. The adult, intent on getting somewhere on time, tugs their hand, maybe cajoles or bribes, often ignoring whatever the child sees, and eventually the journey progresses. Often the child is shattered that no one saw what they did; and the adult is frustrated that they're late.
I don't want to be that adult, completely focussed on the destination that they forget to look around, because I don't want to lose joy and pleasure and happiness. So I try to make myself notice things to keep that joy in my life - mostly nature; clouds, sunsets, animals, spider webs, shells, trees, wind, waves. I don't want to lose that ability to find pleasure in the little things. I want to be the adult who stops, stares in amazement, fills with happiness, and treasures that moment...just like a child.
So this writing journey (with a view to publication, not just writing for fun) started in 2006 (after I'd been ill and forces to slow down), but got a huge kick in 2008 when I joined Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) and found a repository of information so vast it did my head in. The contests made me realise that I may be good at science writing, but romance and I were a LONG way apart. It took a while for me to understand that my publication dreams would be a fair way off. When I understood that, I consciously went about trying to enjoy the journey rather than focussing completely on publication. Nalini Singh also mentioned this at a conference. It's never just one thing that shapes me, it's always a pile of little things that come together and change my thoughts and actions.
I didn't let the fact that my publication dreams were a long way off get me down (well, not too often). I volunteered in RWA and made a vast number of contacts in the industry through that volunteering. I learned more than I thought possible about publishing and writing - the business, the craft, the pitfalls, the joys. My mind has been filled with so much knowledge I surprise myself when someone asks a question and the answer spurts forth.
So, although it may have taken me 10 years to get a book on the shelf that people are happy to read and comfortable to talk about, the arrival of this moment has not yet overshadowed the incredible journey I've been on to get to this point. I'm not sure that it will.
And maybe that's my character. Throughout my life I've done things that were more about the journey than the end point. In my 20s I trekked in the Daintree on a scientific expedition. We had no end point as such, it was all about the journey, and for our group the challenges we pitted ourselves against. My ag career was never about an end point, always about what I could learn along the way. My holidays are often a trek to explore, never about getting somewhere (except to meet a flight or a train or whatever).
I love journeys, new discoveries, learning.
I don't see the publication of my first book as the end of the journey, or even the pinnacle. I see it as a part of the journey. It's another milestone. And I hope the start of more books, and a long career in writing.
Having said that, I'll still be celebrating that first book!
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