Faith In The (Writing) Process

Just another manic Monday today, for the most part. But one thing I do want to call out is that I did manage to squeeze out a little writing today, and after I was done (I stopped only because I had to go on to the next thing, not because I wanted to), I felt all excited and energized. I had writer's high. (Anyway I'm pretty sure it was that and not the caffeine from the green tea I'd had an hour before.) And I realized something--I had a hard time trying to write last night because I was at a point where I wanted to move forward to a particular plot point I'd been envisioning, but didn't know how. I was stuck. But once I stopped worrying about how I was going to get there, and just asked myself what the character whose head I was in would be thinking/doing right then, I was able to figure out what happened next step by little step. Bird by bird. And I got somewhere I didn't even know I was going to go, but I'm happy with it--because the story itself told me where it wanted to go, without being forced or twisted into shape. I love those moments. It totally gives me hope that I'll be able to finish this damn novel some day (I can barely believe that it's been just about exactly three years now--THREE YEARS--that I've been working on this thing, sheeyit). I must remember: just because I can't quite envision how I'm going to make it to the end now (either plotwise or just plain effort-wise), doesn't mean that I won't be able to get there somehow, just by going step by step and having faith in the process.

Faith in the process. Gotta keep the faith. I feel like maybe I've had this realization before. Ok, so maybe I've had it a whole bunch of times. But clearly I need to have it every so often.