Dances with Destiny

A little kindness goes a long way. All the way to the heart, sometimes. And, as so often, it’s the little things that make a big difference in our lives.

It may be the little things that build up incrementally, or that happen on a regular basis — a text, a hug, a kind word. Or it may be the isolated little incidents and events, too small to notice at the time, and maybe even afterwards, that change the direction we go in at a crucial time in our lives.

So, little things can make a big difference. Not just when they happen to us, but in how the way we act affects the lives of the people around us. A small kindness at the right moment can change the course of our entire lives, and be the turning point in our existence.

Life is full of such turning points, little crossroads that, cumulatively, amount to a whole heap of difference. They may not mean much in themselves, but in their effect, they live on long afterwards.

That’s why you never give up, no matter how hard or hopeless things can seem at times. Because the future is not written in the stars, or in stone for that matter. It is within ourselves — we get to choose the directions and journeys that we go in and on.

We may not have a very good idea of where we’re going at the time, but we know it’ll be worth it when we get there.

Life, in short, is full of surprises, and nobody ever lost money by refusing to second-guess them.

Similarly, in writing: we may not know how it’ll turn out at the time, but we sit down and write, and suspend our disbelief for a while, and, lo and behold, we surprise our readers (and our doubters) — as well as ourselves.

Our lives, like all the best stories at the time they were written, are yet to be written. We can go dancing with destiny any time we choose. We just have to learn the steps, move in time with the waltz, and never fore-limit our own future: because we’re the ones who are writing it — one step at a time, one dance at a time, one day at a time.

You can dance, or not – it’s entirely up to you. But if you don’t dance, how will you ever know what you’re missing?

Destiny’s smiling at you – you wouldn’t want to disappoint her, now …

Writers’ Rites

Writing is a discipline as much as a skill: There’s the discipline of sitting down and writing each day, whether you feel like it or not. There’s the discipline of editing yourself, and not putting up with any nonsense. There’s the discipline of keeping on writing, even when some inner voice is telling you it’s terrible and should never see the light of day.

Sometimes that inner voice is right; and you should learn to listen to it — judiciously, and at the appropriate time (i.e., after the piece is finished).

So, yes, writing is a discipline. But again, it is also a skill. One you learn through practice and experience – and reams and reams of patience. Not to mention, it’s also an exercise in humility.

Anyone who’s going to write well needs to learn humility from the get-go (some of us are still learning). But humility doesn’t mean false modesty, it means a keen observation of reality, avoiding both the tendency to puff your own ego and the tendency to beat yourself up for perceived “failings” and “flaws” (many of which often turn out to be imaginary, or just a sign that you haven’t been sleeping lately).

It means being realistic about your faults, and working to correct them in practice. But part of that means you don’t stop publishing meanwhile. Sometimes “good enough” has to be, well, good enough (for now).

You give it your honest best, you iron out any typos or errors you’ve made along the way — maybe even cut out a paragraph or two that you may have rather liked, but which really had no place in the piece as written — and then you publish it: you send it out into the world, and start work on the next one. Or have a rest for a moment, and sit back with a cup of tea, put your feet up, and relax …

… until the next piece comes along as an idea insistently poking at the inside of your head and demanding to be written.

It’s a dog’s life being a writer …