I'm on my way, but where to?

Starting my fingers moving across computer keys and into a story is an interesting happening. It’s like starting on a trip: I know where I want to go, but I’m not sure about everything I want to do, or what’s in stake for me at the end of my trip. It’s like I decided to go to Los Angeles and probably visit Disneyland, but I’m not sure where I’ll end up, or what I’ll be doing before I hit my main attraction.

I have come to a quandary in my writing. I thought that if I plot along the way, my muse will come along and gently guide my fingers and thoughts with wondrous new adventures. But this takes some sacrifice, some discipline every day to the task.

I could devote all my time to writing. Some people write for eight hours, a normal workday for most folks. But I’m not like that. I get up in the morning and tend to my garden, chickens and the dog. Then, I exercise on the elliptical machine (if I remember!), and I make breakfast for my telecommute husband and myself. Next, I climb into my computer chair and whiz through the myriads of email and check my blog. I drop into Facebook once in a while, picking up the latest scoops on what’s happening with my friends and relatives. If I happen to open my eyes, I find dust and dirt everywhere, then it’s clean, clean, clean! Not my favorite thing. I don’t know anybody who loves to clean every week, only to do the same chores again the next. It’s a heartless, thankless job, but it has to be done. Then there’s a whole mess of tasks waiting for my hands to pick them up and do them (this is after cleaning, or instead of!). I have a crocheting project – a blanket for my niece’s third child (the coming attraction arrives in September), a business I’d like to start (when?), and a whole lot of other to-dos. The list seems endless, yet what are my priorities?

One thing I haven’t devoted myself to but have taken baby steps to accomplish is starting my day in prayer and a little Bible reading. There is something exhilarating and infinitely exciting to know there is a creator in whom we can talk to and who guides our paths each and every day. Some writers wake up to the Word, giving them inspiration and hope for the day, for the hour in their lives. They ask God for guidance in the next twenty-four hours, and even request his leading of the way in their writing. And a lot of those writers are now authors!

I think this morning I will ponder through a few scriptures and pray to the One who put this earth into orbit, and ask Him to show me where my story should be going. - Linda