C.E. Grundler
The other night, as I wrestled with the com...
C.E. Grundler
The other night, as I wrestled with the complexities of my storyline, spread across Scrivener in a chaos of color-coded files, the parallels of writing a novel and restoring a boat came to mind yet again. That, and mountain climbing.
I’ve never understood why individuals choose to climb massive mountains. I know, “Because it’s there,” they say. Risking life and limb because it’s there? Sorry. I just don’t get it. Why would anyone voluntarily submit themselves to such an undertaking. Why would someone willingly subject themselves to a task where it will take thousand upon thousands of seemingly endless steps, over and over, ever drawing you closer to your goal… or setbacks standing between you and your goal. Then again, I suppose many intrepid mountaniers would regard my painstaking progress at restoring Annabel Lee and ask the same question. Why? I suspect if your added all my treks up and down ladders, scaffolding and side decks, I could be halfway up Everest by now. But as with mountain climbing, (or in my case, local hiking,) until you reach the top, all you can see is the stretch of ground you’d already covered and what still waits ahead. Often, I imagine, there’s no sight of the end until there’s no higher you can climb. And the only way you’ll get there is one step at a time. One more foot of deck. One more word, sentence, passage.
The world is filled with dreamers. Climbing that mountain or writing that novel, or even fixing up a beautiful old boat. Of those, a percentage will move from dreaming to action, and of that group, a few will actually reach the summit, or the open sea, or ‘The End.’ What separates the dreamers from those who reach their goals is that perserverance to keep pushing on, pushing through obstacles and never giving up. Perserverance, delusional optimism, or perhaps a touch of insanity. Either way, I know only too well how hard it can be at times. Then again, if it were easy… well, you know.
Share on Facebook
