In And Out Of Love

Remember falling in love?

Butterflies. Names carved in a tree. Listening to the same song over and over because it reminded you of the captain of your heart?

Beginning a new novel is a lot like that. The initial excitement is intoxicating. When you're away from your story too long, you go through withdrawal and can't wait to get back to it.

You speak of it to anyone who'll listen and they nod politely, trying not to be obvious about glancing at the clock.

You just know the admiration will last forever. You'll never grow complacent. This novel is the love of your life. Your magnum opus.

Then you get to, oh I don't know, Chapter 21. The half way point and the real work.

Just like your significant other, you begin to see its faults. And another idea, a really hot idea for a new book comes to mind and its all you can think of.

You must make a decision now. Stay with your commitment and see the first book through or jump ship for a hot little number that beckons you.

We all know the adage, the grass is always greener over the hill, but you still have to mow it.

No matter what story you're working on, there will come a time that it becomes actual work. It is toil. But, just like an enduring marriage, you must work through the bad times and the good will come again.

But, if you keep fluttering around new stories and ideas like a butterfly in a field of wildflowers, you'll never have the satisfaction of completing what could be the book you were meant to write.

It's not easy writing a three to four hundred page book. Some days it is. And for those times be grateful. But, for the most part it's toil. God has promised us our work would be. Writers aren't exempt.

And remember that writing a novel will probably only take you a year and then you can move on to that exciting new book you've been pining over.