Put your headlights on.

Drive Slow

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

E. L. Doctorow (Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews)

Doctorow was speaking from experience in the quote above—about not knowing where a piece of work is going until you get there. Most writers, even ones that start with an outline, do the research, and carefully map out the story line find this to be true. At some point the story takes over, and the writer is just along for the ride. I have even been known to argue with my characters. I say, “We are not going there!” “Well, you may not be,” they say, “but, I am.” Doctorow also speaks of writing as “socially sanctioned schizophrenia.” I can relate. But, I think the same thing could be said about all of life.

We can make all the plans in the world. We can plot the steps to the goal. We can masterfully execute each and every one, and then life may simply take a left turn, and leave us in a blind alley. We must circle and start over. Life will unfold in its own way, no matter how many plans we make. I wish I had known that as a young person. It would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights.

I know several members of the millennial generation who are striving hard to make a plan; one that is going to get them to some lofty, imaginary goal by the time they're thirty-five. I guess everyone has to go through the steps. But those of us with most of our life in hindsight can testify—it just happens. Life is its own manager. If we can get our heads on straight, and learn to trust that where life leads us is exactly where we need to go, it makes all the difference. It's okay to put your headlights on and drive slow. You'll get where you're going all the same.

                                                                     In the Spirit,

                                                                          Jane