Photo Credit: http://handsongratitude.com/
Teresa Deak (used by permission)
Remember the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland? Not much ambition, just sits on his mushroom all day, waiting. Waiting, perhaps, for the end of the world, but who knows what’s on the other side? When everything comes crashing down around our ears, it seems like that’s it. Game over.
I love journals, but mostly for the artwork. I’d rather type. One jumped out at me the other day with its cutesy lettering: “The caterpillar thought it was the end of the world–and then it became a butterfly.” I’d seen it before, but now, it hit me just right. It was a moment of revelation.
2013 was a very bad year. Looking back, its benefits are obvious. But not then. To escape, there were times when I wrote obsessively. Then I didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to deal with people–but forced myself to go to writing circles anyway.
Now I’m glad. The caterpillar’s world ended, but this butterfly’s is just beginning. The slow steps of the last year are paying off. The first installment of the trilogy is nearly done. My Twitter account and Facebook author page are doing well. I am applying for MFA programs to hone my craft further.
It is just past the one year anniversary of the writing group’s inception–I was at the first meeting. I showed the other members the website I am now building to support the book, and one of them said, “This is really happening!” Yes. Yes, it is.
And driving home, I thought how it started out as a few notes and scenes and one year later, things are so different. I’ve found my voice. I am connecting the dots. It’s all moving into place. I’ve emerged from the cocoon.
The end of the world came…and it turned out to be the beginning.
Writing Mercenary 