FIND YOUR STAR

  The Kansas sky is a carpet of stars, so clear you can see the full sweep–well, of our arm, anyway–of the Milky Way, as we could along much of the East Coast when I was a child. Those days are long gone to vapor lights. 

I try to hold onto that thought as I help my future daughter-in-law and son navigate through a thicket of attitudes about children and animals that is stunning in its cruelty. More about that later. 

Writing requires one thing above all, something most writers know but find hard to practice: Keep your butt in the seat if you want to succeed. My recent workshop instructor, Laura van den Berg, had a much nicer way of putting it when asked about her productivity on the page: Try to touch your manuscript each day. Any way you put it, persistence is the difference between success and less than that. 

Today my family had a bit of a disaster concerning two pets that kept me away from our Study Hall and my writing. So, apologies, all. Now let’s get to work. 

Today, I’m going to fashion a new chapter in my second novel, tentatively titled The Man Who Loved Chocolate, which you might call a paean to kind men. Today I met a local government official who was anything but kind, and I’ll have him in the back of my mind as I continue the love story with the sweet-souled bookseller, David Bear. Sometimes it’s good to draw a real-life character’s opposite.

It’s important when the World deals you dirt to remember who you are and what you are worth. To hold onto your star. I hope yours is in sight as you navigate through your day. 

Now, what are YOU working on?