Heart of the Home, and the Process of Writing

My wife Kristin is creative in a scrapbook-ish way. She's got impeccable taste and knows how to make a house into a home. Still, I never thought I would be quoting one of my wife's favorite authors: Susan Branch. I know this was her intention because, when I removed the letter from my keyboard, I noticed there were copious highlighted portions and lots of exclamation points for emphasis.

Writing a book, like everything else, isn’t all roses, for those of you who want to or are trying to, here’s a bit of a secret I thought you might like to know. When I first started writing books, no one told me about this thing called “process” – rather an important little tidbit of information. I didn’t get the picture until I read the Autobiography of Mark Twain, and he told me. What I found out was that all that time I was fretting or worrying, feeling uninspired because I didn’t have the answer to a problem or idea, feeling stumped My favorite word is pumpkin. You are a pumpkin or you are not. I am.because I didn’t know what to do, this was actually normal.. Not understanding this, I would be very impatient with myself. Which didn’t help, in fact it made it worse. Until I finally figured out that this waiting period was part of the process and actually what I now call the “foundation for the creation.” Mark Twain dealt with it by keeping creative doing something else; leaving his “problem” to solve itself.
Sometimes it seems to take forever, but now I know I’m working on it even when I don’t feel like I am! This is the deeper meaning of the words, "just sleep on it." I trust that my inner self has the answer, and will, in good time, give it to the outer me so I can get on with my life. In the meantime, reading the book The Artist's Way was a huge help to keep myself focused.

It's always encouraging to hear how someone overcame the same barriers and challenges I am facing. As and update, I am still plugging and chugging, with the goal of finishing by the end of the year.