A Real Page Turner

Good morning to those of you in the U.S. and good afternoon to my friends tuning in from across the pond.

Today’s post is all about stories. Not any of the ones I’ve written, but rather all our collective life stories. How is yours coming along? Are you satisfied with the plot, or is there too much dramatic tension building up in each scene? Are the characters in your little tale acting as you thought they would, or are they leading you in a direction you hadn’t planned on?

You see, much like writing a novel, there are times in our life’s story when we are scribbling away, and it’s good. Man, it’s like the world is full of possibility and promise. Paragraphs, scenes, and chapters fly by. It’s like the story is writing itself. Magical.

Then (cue villainous music here), all that momentum comes crashing to a halt. The words have left us. We stare at a blank page, that irritating cursor blinking off and on, off and on, off and on, without end. Where did things go wrong? How do we get back into the flow? Dammit, it’s not fair. No matter how hard we bang our head against the keyboard, we can’t get untracked. we are no longer in control. That unreliable muse has left us to weather this crippling writer’s block alone.

Enter a new character! This is one you hadn’t anticipated. They pop into existence and break the fourth wall to whisper that you need to get outside of yourself, to look at your life from a new perspective. Go for a walk, take a break, clear your mind. So your journey isn’t going as expected. Does that mean you give up? Heck no! You need to learn from those past chapters to improve the ones you’ll write next.

Stop thinking of your life as an organized outline, full of targeted bullet points. This wild existence is a rough first draft, filled with a jumble of ideas that need sorting. Sure, some chapters require a serous rewrite, but that’s okay. All is not lost. The key is to view any disruption as a surprising plot twist; one you can use to bring fresh energy and renewed conviction to help you see things through to the end.

With this revelation, you hurry home, grab your favorite pen, pick up a fresh journal, crack open the leatherbound cover, and, with a confident smirk, turn the page.

Thanks for being a big part of my life’s story. I enjoy learning your perspectives and seeing how you are filling up your own pages. I look forward to reading your bestseller!

Until next week, whatever you are, scribble away and be a good one!

-Dave