What’s on your Road of Trials?
Let’s look at our tests, tasks and ordeals!
Okay, bringing you all up to speed … I’m a writer, on a Hero’s Journey, and a mother, on a totally different journey, and don’t me started on my journey as a female human being in this world (those stories are to come).
In January of 2021, I joined Medium and had grandiose thoughts of blogging regularly, submitting to publications frequently, finding an agent for and publishing my first novel … and I figured I’d document my journey as a writer to bear witness that all aspiring writers are living examples of Joseph Cambell’s Monomyth.
I’d previously considered the call to adventure, of course resisted the call to adventure, and finally crossed the threshold into the field of adventure. I soon found myself in the Belly of the Whale … figuring my stuff out as if I were Jonah just waiting to get spit out.
But here’s the deal … you can’t just sit there. You have to act. The world that invited you to this life doesn’t do the work for you.
This is a test for us: are we willing to do the work we need to do while facing the frightening ambiguity unpublished novelists face?
I really think that bears repeating for anyone at this stage of the journey, albeit with different language:
How might you do the work you need to do while facing the frightening ambiguity unpublished novelists face?
I can tell you how I’m doing the work … I’m doing it with the help of community.
Have you found your people?
Here’s a task: Lean in to writer’s groups until you find one that fits
The year I participated in NaNoWriMo (2019), I found a local writers group. It worked for me during that time, but it didn’t have sticking power for me beyond that month.
After, I joined a few Facebook groups for writers, and those didn’t stick either. They were filled with people, so filled with people that in fact, it was hard to find our commonalities.
I even tried to start a writing group myself, rallying some folks I had met online. But I quickly I realized that I wasn’t the one to lead in this sort of thing; I was (am) still very much a follower in this field.
So I tried one more thing …
Responding to an invitation I had been receiving for quite some time after signing up for a local writer’s newsletter, I joined a weekly writers meet-up. It was at this virtual write-in that I found something I didn’t realize I was really needing: accountability.
Thank you Gabi Coatsworth. I didn’t realize that in my hunt for community, I’d find what I was seeking … a personal commitment to myself and my work.
This writer’s group keeps me accountable
It’s so easy to let goals fall by the wayside, isn’t it? Especially if you have other responsibilities … like work (like that day job that pays the bills), parenting (I’m still not an empty nester), and/or volunteering (someone teach me how to say no).
We can only focus on so much, right? So writing takes the back seat. Responsibilities ride shot gun.
By sitting down with a group of dedicated writers each week, I spend a few hours advancing my goals. It is happening. And therein lies the learning. The big learning. The “ah-ha” moment on my hero’s journey.
Responsibilities are my trials
For me, the Road of Trials is filled with tasks and to-dos that come at me daily. I set aside my word count goals because I have to finish a work report, or mentor a young professional in my field, or help my daughter with her college essay, or co-complete the FAFSA forms for financial aid, or bring the dog to the vet, or … you get the point, right? Everything else comes first. Everything.
But when I show up to a weekly write-in?
I set a goal to accomplish in a two hour period. Then I achieve that goal.
And sometimes I set another goal to accomplish before the following week’s meet-in, and I achieve that goal.
Slowly, by making my writing a responsibility, by committing to a day and time and blocking my calendar accordingly, I upped the word count in my first novel.
I showed up. That’s how I’m going to be able to navigate the Road of Trials.
So what about you? What’s on your Road of Trials? And how do you navigate them? Please share your secrets … and the road blocks that often feel impassible. Community means helping each other.
