{"id":15776,"date":"2023-08-07T22:19:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T22:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carolhollandmarch.com\/?p=15776"},"modified":"2023-08-07T22:27:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T22:27:15","slug":"the-joy-of-finishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolhollandmarch.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/07\/the-joy-of-finishing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joy of Finishing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This week I finished a short story I\u2019ve been noodling around with for about five years. It started with an image of an old woman building a circular wooden device in her backyard. I saw her in a seaside town on a New England island, threatened by rising sea levels. She refused to evacuate, instead collecting items from the people in the village to add to her circle, which would become a magical shrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The finished version is quite different. There is still an old woman, but she lives in ancient times and travels to a village being held hostage by armed invaders who are waiting for the harvest so they can steal it to supply their army stationed nearby. She builds a circle in the forest, constructed of stone, and collects items from the villagers for a shrine, although no one knows why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always knew how the story would end. Rarely do I start a story without knowing its end, although I may not know the middle. The end is the most satisfying part, and when I finished what I now call \u201cMosaic,\u201d I realized why it took so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I started, I had a vague grasp of what the character was doing, but not until I knew more about the transformation she would undergo did the piece come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is often the way. The impulse comes. Sometimes an image. A character. A setting. A title. But not enough for a complete story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patience has never been one of my virtues, but I\u2019ve learned that forcing my creative energy to bend to the demands of my analytical mind is not helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other areas of my life and work, setting goals and making plans works fine. In rewriting, editing, finding markets, developing classes, and working with students, a loving discipline is useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not for the initial creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that, I must wait. Surrender to the process.  Sometimes a day or two. Sometimes years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to judge myself for the waiting. Then I noticed that waiting is valuable. It allows the creative impulse to gather itself, to grow and become more than it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, I learned the rhythm and timing of my Creative Self, and stopped scolding it for not marching along as quickly as ego-mind preferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that I don\u2019t work on other things while a story is germinating. Of course I do. One of my mentors paraphrased the well-known saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All things come to she who waits<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If she who waits works like hell while she waits.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take that seriously. I\u2019m a writer. I write every day. But I don\u2019t force myself to complete what is not ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is joy in waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In allowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In surrendering to the growth required before a complete story peeks out from behind the veil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finishing any creative project is worth celebrating, so no matter what happens to “Mosaic,” published or not, appreciated or not, I\u2019m happy. I finished.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I finished a short story I\u2019ve been noodling around with for about five years. It started with an image of an old woman building a circular wooden device in her backyard. I saw her in a seaside town on a New England island, threatened by rising sea levels. She refused to evacuate, instead … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Joy of Finishing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,125,128,140],"tags":[144,147,160,173],"class_list":["post-15776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-writers-heart","category-carol-holland-march","category-creativity","category-writing","tag-carol-holland-march","tag-creativity","tag-overcome-resistance","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Joy of Finishing - Carol Holland March<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carolhollandmarch.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/07\/the-joy-of-finishing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Joy of Finishing - Carol Holland March\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week I finished a short story I\u2019ve been noodling around with for about five years. 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