Category: Writing

When we last left Betsy, she had climbed the first mountain—well, hill—on her road to regaining her lost momentum. Not only that, but the Muse had returned! Everything was coming up roses! Hoorah!

But then the blog went silent for a few weeks, and you know as well as I do THAT’S not a good sign. So now let us rejoin Betsy, struggling writer, Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, and the Muse, who needs no introduction, to find out what’s been going on. Has it been good? Bad? Indifferent? None of the above?

Let’s see…

*Harry and Muse are standing together on the top of a hill* *They are looking up at the slope of an even taller hill, watching Betsy struggle to carry a boulder to the top*

Well, she’s still going. *Harry scratches one of his long ears*

So far. *Muse frowns* *Birds sing* I’ll admit I’m surprised. I didn’t think she’d keep it up.

*Harry squints* Crap. It looks like she’s running into some trouble.

*As if on cue, Betsy suddenly stumbles* *She tries to catch herself and bobbles the boulder she’s been carrying* *Her legs go out from under her* *Her arms flail wildly* *She ends up face down on the hillside* *The boulder she’s been carrying flies into the air, hangs for a split second against the clear blue sky, then crashes down on top of her* *It breaks into several pieces on Betsy’s back, burying her*

Oh, man! *Harry bounces forward, ears upright and alert* She’s down! She’s down! What happened?

*Muse sighs* I was afraid of this.

*Harry turns to her* What? Afraid of what?

Betsy just slammed into an Unexpected Mundane World Disruption.

A UMWD? *Harry spins back around* Are you sure?

Let’s look at the replay. *Muse pulls a tablet computer out from her robes* *Brings up video* *She and Harry huddle over the screen*

See? *Muse points* There’s a crater in the hillside that wasn’t there before. Betsy tries to avoid it, catches her foot, and then face-plants.

How in the world did she miss that? It’s huge! *Harry grabs his ears and pulls* She could see it coming from a mile away if she was paying any kind of attention! In fact, she DID see it. Look. *He points at the video* She started to avoid it, but then she swerved and headed right for the danged thing!

*Muse shrugs* It happens. Sometimes the human knows intellectually the crater is there, but doesn’t think they’ll fall into it. And sometimes they SHOULD know the crater is there, but they’re just not paying enough attention. It’s a miracle the crater didn’t swallow her up again. This was a medium disruption as opposed to what happened earlier in the year.

I guess. *Harry sounds uncertain*

*Suddenly, the hillside shakes* *Clouds form* *Torrents of sugar begin to rain down from the sky*

Oh, man. *Harry pulls out an umbrella and raises it over his head* *Sugar rains until the ground is white around them* She’s going in for the inappropriate eating again.

*Muse sighs and powers down her tablet computer before storing it away in her robes* Well, I won’t be able to get through the interference until her brain clears. You’d better go slap some sense into her. I’ll be back in a couple of days.

How come I’m always the one who has to get her up and moving? *Harry whines*

*Muse looks at him steadily* *Raises an eyebrow*

Sorry, sorry. *Harry bows hastily* *Sugar falls off the top of his umbrella*

*Muse pats his head* Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. *Tugs a silky ear* Take some super-glue. She’ll need to put that boulder back together if she’s ever going to get it to the top of the hill.

Yes ma’am. *Harry watches Muse dissolve into a mist of rainbows and flowers and puppies* *Sighs* *Hops up the hillside to where Betsy lays face-down, buried under pieces of boulder* *Considers her, then pushes some of the pieces of boulder away*

Hey.

*Betsy turns her head to look at him* Ow.

Well, you didn’t go all the way down the rabbit hole this time.

What happened?

*Harry shrugs* An unexpected disruption.

It was a really deep crater. I thought I was going to miss it, but then it’s like my body decided to head right towards it.

But you pulled away at the last minute, so you only tripped and fell. That’s pretty good, right? *Harry tilts his head* Could you cut off the sugar consumption now? There’s no way you’ll be able to pick up the boulder again if your head’s mess up.

Maybe I don’t want to pick up the boulder again. *Betsy pouts*

Yes, you do.

It’s broken, anyway. Maybe I CAN’T pick it up.

I have super-glue. *Harry holds up the tube*

Maybe this is too much trouble.

It’s not too much trouble. It’s just enough.

Maybe I just want to keep eating sugar and forget about everything else.

*Harry tilts his head* Do you really?

*Betsy plucks at the grass* No. *The sugar stops raining from the sky*

Good. *Harry waves a paw and the boulder pieces move to the side* *Reaches down and helps Betsy to sit back up* Then let’s get gluing.

 

To be continued…

 

 

When we last left Betsy, she was pushing a boulder up a hill, struggling to gain some of the momentum she’d lost over the last few difficult and stressful months. Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, was pointing out yet again that she would not be doing herself any favors if she decided to stop, no matter how hard it was to keep going.

Last week the blog was silent again, but was that a good or a bad sign? Is Betsy still struggling to climb her first hill? Did the boulder roll over her and squash her into the ground like a cartoon character? And has the Muse come back yet? Will she EVER come back?

Let’s see…

 

*Betsy sits on the ground in the grass and stares off to the horizon* *She pants and wipes sweat from her brow* *Looks down the hill to the ground far below* *Looks over at the boulder she pushed up the hill with such difficulty* *Pants*

You did it! You did it! *Harry hops around her, puffy white tail waggling with glee* You made it to the top of the hill!

*Betsy nods* It was hard.

*Harry settles on the ground beside her* Yes, but you were able to finish the first draft of the novella you were working on back in March when everything changed. You were able to push through and get it done.

*Betsy shrugs and pulls at some grass* There’s still a long way to go before it’s ready. And I don’t know if it’s any good.

*Harry smacks her hand* That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad at this point. What matters is you finished.

I was kind of blocked on it for a while because of everything that happened. And because I was working on it the morning that…well, you know.

*Harry pats her shoulder* I know.

So it was hard to pick it up again. But I really didn’t have anything else prepared, so I had to go with it.

That was probably a good thing.

*Betsy nods* I guess.

So why are you sitting here? *Harry waves his paws* You need to keep going! You got this stage done, now you have to keep up your momentum and go into editing.

I know. I was just trying to think about what I’ve learned these last two weeks.

*Harry blinks* You learned something?

Don’t be a wise-guy. I can learn things. I can change.

*Harry blinks* You can?

*Betsy frowns* Yes I can! For example, I realized that the reason I wasn’t writing as much as I wanted to was because I wasn’t treating it like work.

Writing isn’t supposed to be work. It’s supposed to be fun.

*Betsy thinks* Is it? Because sometimes it’s not. Fun, I mean. It’s always really, really rewarding and it’s always intense, but it’s not always fun. And see, for the last *mumble mumble* years—

How many years?

Shut up. For the last so many years, I’ve been going to work almost every day at a job working for somebody else. In fact, because I was often working two or three jobs, I would go to work seven days a week. Now, suddenly, I’m not going to work anymore.

*Harry looks confused* Okay.

So I realized I had to treat writing as work. In other words, I had to give it the same respect that I gave to working for other people.

*Harry nods* You had to get into a routine.

Well, yes, but it was more than that. I had to “go to work”. I had to go through the same morning routine that I went through when I was actually going out the door to work. I had to sit down in my office at the same time every day. I had to go to my job every day. Once I started treating it like that, I was able to make progress. But when it was just “something I did”, I couldn’t get there.

“Harry thinks* So you had this thing you love to do, but you didn’t do it effectively until you treated it like a thing you HAVE to do.

I guess.

Humans are strange.

And I learned that I needed to show up in the office every day and work for the time I’d set myself to meet certain objectives I’d set for myself.

That didn’t exactly work this week.

No, but it worked SOME of the week and I’m still learning. I’ll be better next week. Look how I’m actually writing a blog post just like I wanted to do.

*Harry looks out to the blogosphere* *Back to Betsy* Go you!

And there’s more I’m learning. But I figure I’ll be able to write other blog posts about that instead of cramming it all into this one.

*Harry pumps his fists* You are a planning fool!

I know. *Betsy shakes her head* I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Well, I guess you’ll figure it out. Now we’d better get going or all that good work will be for nothing. *Harry gets to his feet* You can’t stop for long or the boulder’s going to get heavy again, no matter how organized you are.

I guess. *Betsy gets to her feet* *Gives the boulder a little push* Where do I go now?

*Harry points*

*Betsy stares* Up there?

*Harry nods*

But that hill is even bigger than this one was!

*Harry shrugs*

I barely made it up here! How am I supposed to get it all the way up to the top of that one!

With a lot of hard work.

And I’ll help.

*Betsy whirls around* Muse! You came back!

*Muse smiles* For now.

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

When last we left Betsy she was with Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide for her Quest to become a successful independent author. Because being a successful independent author means, well, writing, Betsy was trying to regain her momentum, trying to get moving again, trying to push a boulder up a very steep mountain. Harry was watching her.

But now, while Harry hopped off to get a salad, it seems that Betsy has frozen in mid-push. She is part way up the mountain, still, not moving forward, balancing the boulder on her head.

What in the world is going on NOW?

Let’s see…

*Harry hops up to the mountain where Betsy is standing, frozen, on a ledge about 12 inches up* *Sits on his haunches* *Contemplates her*

What are you doing?

I don’t know! *Betsy’s voice is muffled against the mountain* I don’t know what I’m doing! That’s the problem! *Boulder slips* *Betsy takes a step backwards* *Recovers*

Isn’t that boulder heavy?

Well, of course it’s heavy! You know it’s heavy!

Then I’d think you want to be pushing it to the top so you can stop holding it.

I don’t know! I don’t know if I want to go up to the top!

Uh huh. *Harry considers her some more* Then let it go and step down.

I don’t want to do that either!

Right. *Harry itches an ear* So you’re stuck.

I know that!

And the boulder is heavy, so eventually you’re going to drop it.

I know that too! *Betsy braces herself*

So why don’t you want to push it again?

What if I get to the top and it’s all wrong? What if I’ve been pushing it up the wrong hill? What if I get it all the way up there and it crumbles? I’ll just have been wasting my time!

Then why don’t you want to come down?

Because then I’ll have failed. I’ll be giving up.

Okay. *Harry hops up onto the ledge with ease* *levitates boulder out of Betsy’s hands* Turn around, will you? I can’t have this conversation with your rear end.

Okay. *Betsy turns slowly* *Looks up at boulder* Could you always do that?

What do you think?

Then why didn’t you do it before?

Because you need to push it up. Now, what’s all this about? I know you’re trying to build your momentum again, but you’ve got this. You love doing this. You’ve wanted the opportunity to write for your whole adult life, and now you’ve got it. Granted, the circumstances aren’t ideal, but the opportunity is still there. Why are you freezing?

*Betsy wipes snot from nose with back of hand* I’m afraid.

*Harry studies her* What are you afraid of?

*Betsy looks away* *Drips some more* Can I sit down?

Feel free. *Harry gestures, then joins her sitting on the ledge* *Boulder remains suspended*

*Betsy looks at her hands* I’m afraid that I’m just fooling myself. I’m afraid that this is stupid.

*Harry smacks her on the back of her head*

Ow! *Betsy rubs her head*

Don’t make me do that again. You don’t really think it’s stupid, not deep inside. If you did, I wouldn’t be here and you wouldn’t be pushing a boulder. So please do me the favor of telling me the truth.

*Betsy scowls at him*

Don’t make me hit you again.

*Betsy sighs* Okay. I’m afraid that this is more than I can handle, that I can’t keep this going, that I’ll never get the boulder to the top and then it will roll down the hill and smush me. Or I’m afraid that if I get this boulder to the top, I’ll never be able to do it again. Which means being a successful independent author is just a lie.

*Harry hits her on the back of the head again*

Ow! Harry!

Listen to me. You can do this. And if you push this boulder to the top of the hill and then the next one and the next, it’s going to get easier because you’ll have that momentum. And you’ll have more momentum because you’ll be able to keep pushing.

But—

*Harry holds up a paw* But you can’t freeze. Like I said last week, you have to keep moving. If you’re moving forward, it all seems possible, but if you let the fear rule you then nothing does.

*Betsy thinks* Maybe I’m afraid that I’ll be successful. And if I’m successful then that means there’s pressure to keep being successful.

But you don’t want to stop.

No.

And you’re a professional now.

Yes.

So you have to keep going. You have to keep going even though you’re afraid. You have to keep going in spite of the fear.

*Betsy thinks* I have to do what scares me.

*Harry beams at her* Exactly! How else are we going to see what’s at the top of that hill?

Maybe the fear is a warning that it’s bad.

No. In this case, the fear is a hurdle. It’s a challenge to see how far you’re willing to go.

*Betsy thinks* The fear is trying to stop me.

Yes. Fear usually does.

Or maybe I’m trying to stop myself.

*Harry cocks his head* You think?

I don’t know what’s going to happen, and what I’m trying to do is a little unusual, so I’m afraid of the consequences.

On the other hand, consequences never really stopped you before. *Harry coughs* Credit cards *coughs*

True. *Betsy pushes herself to her feet* *Climbs back under the boulder* *Braces* Okay. Let’s go.

*Harry releases the boulder into Betsy’s hands* There’s nowhere to go but up.

 

To be continued…

 

 

When we last left Betsy, she was ready to start again after a particularly difficult year. But it doesn’t bode well that the blog was silent last week, does it?

As we join her and Harry, the white rabbit who is her Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, we find them standing at the foot of a tall mountain gazing up at an extremely heavy boulder. What is going on?

Let’s see…

 

*Betsy pants and leans against the boulder* I…can’t…get it…moving.

*Harry settles back on his haunches* Try again.

Betsy puts both hands on the boulder and pushes. It rolls one inch, stops, rolls back. Betsy collapses again.
See? It won’t move!

That’s because you stopped.

It’s too hard!

No it’s not, but you won’t get anywhere if you keep stopping.

Betsy puts her hands on the boulder again. Pushes again. The boulder moves again. This time it moves two inches, then stops, and rolls back an inch.

Perfect! *Harry beams at Betsy* You moved it an inch!

An inch! *Betsy frowns in disgust* That’s nothing!

It’s not nothing. It’s an inch.

If I only move the boulder an inch at a time, it’s going to take forever to get up the mountain! *Betsy waves her hands wildly*

Well, yes. *Harry scratches at his long, silky ear* But if you keep moving it an inch at a time, pretty soon you’ll be moving it two inches! Then three!

It’s not fair. *Betsy crosses her arms and drops to the ground* *Frowns* I was moving the boulder a lot faster earlier.

Were you really?

Yes. *Betsy frowns at Harry* And I don’t see you helping.

But of course I’m helping. *Harry sits next to her*

How?

By not letting you completely stop, of course.

It’s just. *Betsy plucks at the grass* I sort of thought the Muse would be here to help me by now.

She’ll be here.

I sort of thought she’d take over. I like it when she takes over. Then things really fly.

*Harry pats Betsy’s hand* You’re just rusty, that’s all. It’s hard to hear her when you’re out of practice.

*Betsy frowns* If I can’t hear the Muse, I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep going.

You have to keep going anyway, then you hear her.

That seems backwards to me. Seems like I should get some direction before I set out rather than after. What kind of a system is that!

*Harry shrugs*

I have poison ivy all over my arms, you know. *Betsy itches* How am I supposed to concentrate?

*Harry shrugs*

And my ankle hurts when I sit at the desk.

*Harry shrugs*

And that boulder is pretty heavy.

*Harry shrugs*

And that hill is awfully high

*Harry shrugs*

Maybe I should just give up and start tomorrow. After all, tomorrow’s another day and I’ll get a fresh start. If I get a good night’s sleep then all be all rested in the morning.

You could. *Harry smiles equably*

*Betsy looks at him suspiciously* Buuuutttt….?

*Harry shrugs* But you did make an inch progress. Maybe if you keep going instead of stopping altogether, you can make two.

So what?

So then you’ll be two inches further along.

*Betsy thinks* And if I stop?

*Harry shrugs* Then maybe you’ll be at the beginning again.

*Betsy thinks*  And a little progress is better than no progress?

*Harry beams at her* Exactly.

And eventually the Muse will come?

*Harry nods* Eventually.

*Betsy thinks* *Sighs* *Gets to her feet*

Okay. We’ll try for another inch.

*Harry pats her hand* Some days we take whatever we can get. The important thing is we try to take it.

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

The Muse and Betsy are sitting cross-legged in a meadow on the top of a mountain looking off into the distance. It’s foggy all around them, with only the occasional mountain peak showing through the gray clouds. There are no paths, no cities, no evidence of anyone other than themselves. In every direction Betsy looks, there is only fog and a mountain peak or two.

Betsy shifts on her bum and puts her hands deep into the grass so that she feels like she has something to hold onto.  Honestly, she would much rather swim in the deep lake she has in the center of her mind than sit on top of this mountain.  So why did the Muse bring her here?

Let’s see…

 

Why are we here? *Betsy looks at the Muse*

*Muse settles back on her palms* We’re here because you have places to go and we need to plan the trip.

Planning? *Betsy wrinkles her nose* I hate planning.

Don’t I know it. *Muse shakes her head* *Rainbows sparkle*

I mean I get where I’m going, don’t I?

Eventually. Sometimes.

I just dive right in and splash around for a while and then sooner or later I get to the other shore.

Except for the times when you go under and can’t find the other shore and have to head back the way you came. Or when you get to the shore and don’t know where to go next.

*Betsy pouts* I guess.

*Muse looks at her sternly* You need to change the way you’re doing things if this journey is going to be sustainable. If you want to write more books better and quicker, you need to do some planning.

*Betsy plucks a piece of grass and twirls it in her fingers* Like what?

*Muse straightens* Let’s focus on the current project first. The novella you’re writing for the newsletter. *gestures at the expanse around them* Where do you want to end up?

*Betsy frowns* *Shrugs* Um… I don’t know.

*Muse shakes her head* If you don’t know where you want to end up, you’ll get lost in the fog. You’re just going to fall off a cliff as soon as you start walking. *prods Betsy’s shoulder* Come on. Look around and tell me where.

Uh, over there I think. *Betsy points to a mountain that’s closer than some of the other peaks showing through the fog*. But I don’t know how I’m going to get there. The fog is too thick.

But you know where you’re going to start–that’s here–and you know where you want to end up–that’s there. That’s a beginning. Now, are you going to stop there or are you going to keep going?

*Betsy considers* I think I’d like to keep going for a while.

*Muse nods* Then where are you going after you go there? Where do you want to ultimately end up when it’s all said and done?

*Betsy frowns* Um, I think I want to end up there at the end. *Betsy points to another mountaintop that’s much further away than the first*

*Muse smiles* Excellent! Now, see? There is the mountain you want to end up at first, then the mountain you want to end up at last, and in between, there’s another mountain that’s on the way. That’s three. A trilogy.

*Betsy frowns* I can count.

Right. *Muse snorts delicately* You wouldn’t know it from your math scores in school. Anyway, now we know where you want to ultimately end up. So we work from that mountain back to the second, from the second to the first, and from the first back to here.

*Betsy gapes at her in horror* Are you kidding me? By the time I do all of that, I’m won’t want to take the darned trip in the first place!

*Muse sighs* We’re not going to do detailed planning beyond the first mountain, but you want to know where you’re ultimately heading so you’re pointing in the right direction. What if you start on a trail that leads the opposite way?

*Betsy twirls the leaf of grass* I guess. So you’re really sure it’s bad for me to just splash around until I get where I’m going?

*Muse frowns* Do you want to write more books before you’re ninety?

Yes. *Betsy fidgets* Are you sure the fog will lift once I start heading for the first mountain?

It usually does.  Step by step.

*Betsy nods* I’m not used to working this way. It’s all so…organized.

It will also let you write better and write faster. And if you write better and faster, you’ll get where you want to go on this Quest of yours. What do you have to lose by trying?

*Betsy looks down at the grass* I don’t want to fail.

*Muse pats her on the shoulder* You’ll never know if you don’t try.

*Betsy draws in a deep breath* Okay

 

To be continued…