Uncertainty

     In the writer's life, or at least, in my life right now, there are few things more familiar to me than uncertainty. Take this for example. Which entry should I work on writing next? Am I ever going to write another story here? Should I work on this or on some of my other writing projects? And speaking of my other writing projects, what should I do with them? Should I be working on rewriting my book? Should I attempt a draft of a shorter story?

     You can see how a simple question becomes a tornado of fear and doubt raging in the mind. The solution is mighty simple, and I think I've said it before: Just do something.

     The reason I've preached this sermon before is that it's hard for me to do and I need to do it more. Being something of a man of thought, action does not come as easily to me as to some. I imagine there are plenty of writers who find themselves in the same boat. I think we all hope that it gets easier if and when we get contracts from publishing firms.

     Anyway, that's the key right there. Do something. Find whatever you feel most inclined to do (aside from nothing) and go for it. If it turns out that that wasn't quite the best thing to do, then you can backtrack and start over again. Mistakes teach us; you just have to be willing to make them. It's easy for me to say, hard for just about everyone to do.

     Whatever you do, just do something. Don't sit around waiting forever. Waiting places are fearful places, in which dark fears and failures attack ambition, kill drive, and stomp on dreams. Sure, there are times when you need to slow down and wait quietly, but if the waiting is extended too long, bad things are likely to happen. Stroll through that place, but don't sit down.

     Dr. Seuss summed it up nicely when he wrote this in Oh, the Places You'll Go: "You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long, wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles down weirdish, wild space, headed I fear, toward a most useless place. The Waiting Place. For people just waiting.... No! That's not for you! Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find bright places where boom-bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping once more you'll ride high, ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you're that kind of guy. Oh, the places you'll go!"

     And I think that pretty much says it all.