February | 2012 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Remember back in January when we talked about dream boards and Oprah? (Though honestly, y’all fixated more on the fact that I’d never seen an Oprah show than on the splendiferous dream board.)

Today, I remembered something else. To wit, that I’d share a little insight on various parts of the writing dream. So now it’s on to Part I, which I like to call “Patience is a Virtue.” (Though honestly, sometimes I call that part of the process “I Don’t Care What Anybody Says, I Want It Now.”)

So you can probably take a look at the Tibetan Buddhist monks, working on that mandala, and figure out that patience is hugely necessary to achieve results. Lots and lots of patience (and a lack of any allergies). And not just the patience to painstakingly create a masterpiece, but the patience to learn the craft involved. I don’t know all the facts about mandala-making, but I don’t suppose you can take a three hour mandala-making webinar and expect to produce something as intricate as what I saw come together that day.

And what I noticed, as the monks hunched down, carefully picking up a tool, thoughtfully choosing a color, is that there was not one moment–not a single moment–that was rushed. It was so very, very deliberate and purposeful. Nothing else seemed to matter except that little spot, and the proper placement of those colored grains of sand. There was a quality of the sacred in it, and I watched in respectful silence.

So my dream board reminds me to be patient; good things (like a masterpiece of words) come to those who wait. But it also reminds me to work purposefully, and not rush my dream. It will all come together in its own time.

(Though honestly, I really, really want it now.)

Thinking about that Birds and Bloom Backyard Blunder contest put me in mind of all kinds of blunders I’ve made, including those of the writing species. And so Friday, when I was trying to think up something to write for The Muffin, it didn’t take long for me to whip up a post.

You can read all about how I learn from making mistakes, particularly what I learned from the “writing of the chapter book” blunder I made. And here’s the rest of the story…

After I realized that my chapter book needed a ton of work, I got down to business on the rewrite. I punched up the main character, toned down the supporting cast of characters, defined the goals a bit better, straightened out a point-of-view problem…well, let’s just say I ended up with a new and muchly improved chapter book. And then you know what happened?

Wouldn’t it be really swell if I’d sold that manuscript? The sad fact is, I didn’t. But I did submit it for an evaluation at an SCBWI conference and found that it had a lot of wonderful components. I also found that even with a lot of wonderful parts, the book as a whole would probably not sell. Chapter books are a hard sell any way you look at it, but my chapter book was a little too different.

Now, another person may have been disappointed. Well, okay. I was a little disappointed. But still, I’d learned so much in the process of writing my first book. And one of the things I learned was that this chapter book really needed to be a middle grade book. And someday, when I figure out more about this story, I’ll write that middle grade book.

And that’s the rest of the story. Yes, I know. You were hoping for a happy ending. But then again, the story hasn’t really ended, has it?