Chapter 5 is taking longer than expected...
When you are restructuring a story so its better than the 12-18 year old self that wrote it, sometimes you have to throw away pages and pages of words that used to mean something. It hurts a bit to throw away those words that were so important to you - but they don't do any good anymore, they don't add anything to your story. They have to go. Completely.
This was the first 2 hours and 36 minutes of my "work" time today. Pages and pages of written words had to be discarded. Then I took a break for an hour to do some studio work. As I finished texting some students about restarting their lessons, I realized how much getting rid of unnecessary words in my story was a metaphor with getting rid of unnecessary things in my life. What a parallel to real life right now. Covid-19, the attrocious action that led to current riots, friends and family who are going through difficult times right now - all of it is making us get rid of unnecessary things or habits, or is bringing social injustices to a space that we can't hide from. Everyone is in some kind of pain right now. Its so difficult just to open your eyes in the morning. And it can get worse than this - IF WE LET IT.
We don't have to let it, though. We have a choice to seek solutions to help and not hurt. To seek joy instead of stay in our pain. To forgive or not to forgive - ourselves or others. It is our individual choice. No one can choose for you. We all have the ability to change our position, to change our state. I don't know what that is for each of us. I don't know where you are at - but I want you to know that you have a choice. My choice may be different than yours, the same, or similar - but it is still a choice. My choice. Your choice. I know a lot of people right now need to hear that. To help them to pick themselves up and change their state - because I've learned through some hard ways that as much as your friends and family want to be there for you, at the end of the day you have to make a choice to be, do better whatever that means in your life. That saying, "You can't change anybody, unless they want to change," is 100% true.
So though it hurt a lot to delete all these words that used to mean so much to me, these characters that I need to change a bit - it was necessary to do it for the good of the story. For it to be even possible to be published and speak to someone's soul - which is my whole goal for sharing my stories one day - I needed to make some major changes.
What kind of changes do you need to make? What do you need to give up to move forward or bring joy into your life and others? A behavior or habit? A mindset? An article of clothing? A stack of dusty papers? A grudge you have against someone? A dirty couch? A broken bike? What do you need to let go of? I encourage you to do it - and one thing at a time is okay. You can't fix anything overnight but you can take daily steps moving forward. And they are your steps to take.
Okay, back to chapter 5. It's become a doozy; so chapter 4 may wait until tomorrow. At the very least, this story is becoming something that I'll be very proud to share one day. Maybe even by the end of this year!
Tiffany
This was the first 2 hours and 36 minutes of my "work" time today. Pages and pages of written words had to be discarded. Then I took a break for an hour to do some studio work. As I finished texting some students about restarting their lessons, I realized how much getting rid of unnecessary words in my story was a metaphor with getting rid of unnecessary things in my life. What a parallel to real life right now. Covid-19, the attrocious action that led to current riots, friends and family who are going through difficult times right now - all of it is making us get rid of unnecessary things or habits, or is bringing social injustices to a space that we can't hide from. Everyone is in some kind of pain right now. Its so difficult just to open your eyes in the morning. And it can get worse than this - IF WE LET IT.
We don't have to let it, though. We have a choice to seek solutions to help and not hurt. To seek joy instead of stay in our pain. To forgive or not to forgive - ourselves or others. It is our individual choice. No one can choose for you. We all have the ability to change our position, to change our state. I don't know what that is for each of us. I don't know where you are at - but I want you to know that you have a choice. My choice may be different than yours, the same, or similar - but it is still a choice. My choice. Your choice. I know a lot of people right now need to hear that. To help them to pick themselves up and change their state - because I've learned through some hard ways that as much as your friends and family want to be there for you, at the end of the day you have to make a choice to be, do better whatever that means in your life. That saying, "You can't change anybody, unless they want to change," is 100% true.
So though it hurt a lot to delete all these words that used to mean so much to me, these characters that I need to change a bit - it was necessary to do it for the good of the story. For it to be even possible to be published and speak to someone's soul - which is my whole goal for sharing my stories one day - I needed to make some major changes.
What kind of changes do you need to make? What do you need to give up to move forward or bring joy into your life and others? A behavior or habit? A mindset? An article of clothing? A stack of dusty papers? A grudge you have against someone? A dirty couch? A broken bike? What do you need to let go of? I encourage you to do it - and one thing at a time is okay. You can't fix anything overnight but you can take daily steps moving forward. And they are your steps to take.
Okay, back to chapter 5. It's become a doozy; so chapter 4 may wait until tomorrow. At the very least, this story is becoming something that I'll be very proud to share one day. Maybe even by the end of this year!
Tiffany
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