Show and Tell and Some Practical Advice (not really)

Last night, final pages for PEARL arrived. It's so cool to see what the pages are going to look like after seeing them in manuscript form for so many years long.

It's like looking at your baby for the first time. What will she look like? Will she look like me? In other words, will the book still feel like it's mine? Will it reflect my heart? I was so nervous as I opened the envelop. But when I pulled out the pages and flipped ahead to the title page, the one word that came to mind was, YES.



Last night on Twitter, there was a group discussion in which we were asked to give advice to aspiring authors and illustrators. Mine was:

Everyone's road is different. The only way to reach your destination is to keep on truckin'.

In other words, it's best not to compare your journey to anyone else's. You just have to keep on your own path and do the work. Just remember to stop at the diner and have some pie with the other truckers every so often.

At the retreat I was at last weekend, one person's advice to the group was this: "Truckers don't get truckers' block." And that is probably true. I don't know about you, but I often find myself NOT treating my writing as a job. I often find myself putting everything else first, whether because I am procrastinating or because I simply feel like I haven't earned the right to prioritize that way yet. But on the days when I do, on the days when I say, "First, the writing." I feel better. I write all morning, reach my goal, and then have the rest of the day to do everything else. And I do those things without the normal weight I feel when my writing is still waiting. But I don't do that every day. I admit it. If this was a regular job, I would be fired.

So how do we change?

I'm not sure. Boy. This turned out to be lacking in practical advice after all.

Maybe, it's a question for you.

Maybe it's a goal for all of us.

Maybe it's a plea for permission.

Maybe, we should just think on it and hopefully realize it's time to get truckin'. No more excuses.

Since I turned out not to have much advice after all, I leave you with some I found recently under my bottle cap:



See you at the truck stop.