Mile Markers

I kind of have a thing for numbers. That's not to say I'm a mathematician, not in any sense of the word. I could balance my checking account four times and come up with four different numbers and the other day it took me way too long to add 43 and 88 in my head.

But I like numbers' significance. And when a nice round number marks that significance. For example, last week I reached the halfway point of revising my novel. The chapter ended and I glanced down at the page and, miraculously given my skills, did the math quickly in my head. Fifty percent complete exactly.

One week later, I sign into the blog to update my progress. I have a written copy of the text beside me (so much easier to edit from paper than the screen, I guess I'm old school like that). Wouldn't you know, but I discovered another mile maker. One hundred pages until I'm done. It's so close I can almost feel the calluses on my finger pads.

The point of mile markers according to Wikipedia, "are to provide reference points along the road. This can be used to reassure travelers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance traveled or the remaining distance to a destination."

To someone else 100 pages left may just be the remaining distance to a destination. That may even be how I saw it before I started writing this. But the value to me now is not just how much is left but rather the realization of how much has come before. My focus has been the end result, the completion. Today, I reflect on the miles that have brought me to this point, the finish line almost visible in the distance.

And I laugh. Because I know once I cross that finish line, I'll turn around. The mile marker will read zero and the countdown will begin again. But I won't discount the miles I have traveled. Those markers are not just measuring how far I've come or how far I have to go. They are there to remind me I am on the right path.

Once Upon A Time...

I thought I'd get real serious about this networking thing. So I started a blog, and a twitter. I blinked and more than two years flashed by. While I abandoned the blog (and the tweeting), I did not stop writing. The untitled, unpolished, and unpublished book that inspired all this, is now only two of the three. I bestowed a title upon it but the polish has taken more elbow grease than I thought.

Did you know that after you finish the first creative thing you've written since college you'll instantly fall in love with it? And did you know that the second you hunker down and start editing it you'll fall just as quickly out of love? After going a few rounds and feeling more and more discouraged, I decided to set it aside. I abandoned my prior promise to not start a new writing project before the last one was signed, sealed, and delivered. It was then I discovered something.

Writing was making me a better writer. I know, who would have thought? So I've spent the last two plus years writing the pads of my fingers off and it has served me well. The first book is going through a major rehab since one day I was gobsmacked by the thought that the story was meant to be told in third person. I wrote it in first. I think you can imagine the effort this will take. I am four chapters away from finishing a story that will never see flourescent bookstore lighting since it was merely done as exercise. Lastly, I am one chapter into something I am excited to write, and my notebook is still full of new ideas.

Time to stop dreaming and start doing.