When we last left Betsy, she was pushing the boulder of her work in progress up the mountain of her aspirations. She’d been doing that for quite a while. Quite a while. But the last time we all got together, we found that Betsy had almost made it to the top! In fact, she was on the verge of pushing her boulder over the edge! The end was in sight!
Except…she wasn’t QUITE there. And close only counts in horseshoes. Until that boulder is over the edge, there’s a chance it never will be.
To make matters worse, Harry, the white rabbit who is Betsy’s Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author had gone missing for several weeks. So had the Muse. And that meant Betsy was alone. On her own. And we all know how well THAT usually works out.
So what’s going on? Will Betsy ever push the boulder over the edge? Has she finally reached the tipping point? Or will the boulder roll back and crush her?
Let’s see…
*Betsy stands behind the boulder of her work in progress, hands on the stone* *They are poised on the edge of the cliff of her aspirations* *Betsy does not move* *The boulder does not move* *The cliff does not move*
You don’t have the guts. *The boulder rocks a little* Do you? Come on! Come at me bro! Are you afraid?
*Betsy shakes her head* I’m not afraid!
Oh yeah? *The boulder taunts her* Prove it! We’re on the edge! You’re sick of me! You can’t stand me anymore! But here you are, still tweaking. *Boulder shakes its backside at Betsy* Well, I’m twerking. What do you think of that?
I just want to make sure you’re the best you can be!
Sure you do. *Boulder sneers*. I’ll never be done. You’ll never push me over. That’s the truth, isn’t it? ISN’T IT!
No!
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
YES, I CAN! *Betsy shoves the boulder*
Hey! Well, what do you knoooowwww….. *Boulder rolls and falls over the side of the cliff of aspiration, tumbling down the path to an editor.
TAKE THAT! *Betsy dusts off her hands* Don’t have the guts. I’ll show you guts! *Pauses* *Thinks* Wait a minute. There is that scene…and the dialogue isn’t exactly right in the beginning…and what about character arcs? Are they strong enough? Do I have a theme? Do I have a message? Is it even worth reading at all? Wait! Come back! You might not be good enough yet!
*Betsy looks over the side of the cliff. Boulder has been swept away by the submission process and is now a small speck in the distance* WAIT! *Straightens*. Maybe there’s still time. If I send an email and say I’ve made a mistake, I could—
Or you could just let it go.
*Betsy spins around* Harry! Where the heck have you been?
Around. *Harry hops forward* *Adjusts waistcoat* *Checks pocketwatch* Well, that only took for freaking ever! I didn’t think you’d ever kick that thing over the side.
Fine, fine. Whatever. *Betsy turns back to the cliff* I have to go catch that boulder before it gets too much further in the process.
No, you don’t.
I really do. *Betsy hangs over the edge of the cliff* See that part there? That might be a hole or a crack. And that other part isn’t smooth at all.
You can’t even see it from here.
No, no. I can see it. I know what it looks like.
*Harry grabs Betsy’s arm when she would go running off* You don’t know anything.
Of course I do! *Betsy frowns at him* I know every little bit of that boulder. I hate every little bit of it because I know it so well.
You can’t see it.
Sure I can. *Betsy points* It’s there.
Look, here are the facts. You can’t see it anymore because you’ve been looking at it for so long. And because you’ve been looking at it for so long, you think it’s horrible. But it’s probably not as horrible as you think it is, and it probably doesn’t need as many changes as you think it does. So you need to just stop messing with it until you hear what the editor says.
*Betsy winces* What if she hates it? Honestly, I could bring it back and fix—
No! If she hates it, she hates it and then you’ll have to decide whether or not you believe her. But either way, you have to move on. If you keep holding onto this boulder, it’s only an excuse not to work on any others.
*Betsy chews her lip* So, let it go?
*Harry nods* Let it go.
And start the next one?
And start the next one.
And don’t worry if there’s a hole or a crack or a crevice?
*Harry shrugs* If there is, you’ll find out soon enough and that’s when you’ll fix it.
And it’s too late anyway because it’s already over the cliff.
Yes. *Harry beams* Good work.
To be continued…
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