Did I tell you I’m writing a book?
It’s a story that’s been brewing within me since high school, but somehow now is the time that it feels right to get it all fleshed out. It’s taking directions I don’t think I was expecting when I first started envisioning it 15 years ago, and I find that exciting. I have a general map of where it’s going but also releasing the reins to see how the story wants to be told…
I’ve always loved writing. As a little kid, I was the kid sitting in the shadows of the big brick building, notebook in hand and just jotting down story ideas as they came to me. I can’t count how many stories I’ve written, but just writing stories alone has always felt natural—creating characters and new worlds to explore as I wrote them down.
It came as no surprise when a healer in NYC told me that my sacral chakra was thumping and bumping with stories that wanted to be born, like warriors yearning to burst through into the world.
When the pandemic began, it felt important to return to my creative writing practice. As something to create, keep myself engaged, and to give myself permission to work on something I really wanted to work on.
My mermaid novel, the one I’m presently working on, practically danced onto the stage of my mind and said, “It’s my turn!”
While I previously self-published my first novel in 2015, I cannot say I have any expectations for this mermaid book… Kind of like I have no expectations as for how the nitty-gritties of the storyline will work out, as I let the inspirations come as I go. I’m typically a pantser (writing by the seat of your pants, a NaNoWriMo term), not a plotter, though I do believe an outline can be helpful. I don’t know what I’m going to do with this book yet, how I want it to be published, if I want to go self-publishing again, or if I think I’d like to shop it to agents or to a traditional publishing house.
I’m finding that I love just being in the process of writing it, without any expectation of what will come of it once the book is fully written—though I can already tell it’s a book of epic proportions. Somehow, this book has been transforming into an epic environmentalist fantasy mermaid rescue tale (or tail?), and it’s quite a thrill of a ride to see how it all unfolds.
Which leads me to what I’m musing on today…
Expectations.
Where, how, and why we have them, and how they ultimately serve us and our creativity. Particularly in regards to our dreams or what we want to accomplish.
This morning, in my reading time, I kept coming across the idea that God/the Universe/Source experiences life and itself through us as human beings. That expectations can get in the way of truly experiencing life to the fullest and essentially separates us from what IS by focusing on the future rather than the present. It does harken back to the whole “focus on the journey, not the end result” concept. How you can never truly know how something will work out and how expectations can set you up for disappointment, resentment, or even anger. (From Conversations with God, Vol. I)
The idea of releasing expectations to allow yourself to immerse into the experience you feel inspired to take, from my understanding, is how things can turn out even more magical than you plan for. Allowing yourself to do something for the joy and pleasure of it without having to think about the end result can open up universal possibilities to fill in the gaps and create something more than you imagine.
Why not take a passionate step forward even if you can’t see the way ahead
or what’s at the end of the road?
Why not enjoy the journey toward something you want,
but also allow yourself to be open to something even greater if you take inspired action?
Life wants to be fulfilled through us. Life yearns to be experienced just as we as humans yearn to experience life. If we put expectations on everything that will happen to us or how things will turn out, we could cut ourselves off from the universal flow that wants to work with us. We cut ourselves off by focusing on the future outcomes rather than staying present in the moment to our needs and inspirations as they come.
By staying open, by releasing attachment to outcomes or results, we open the doors to be surprised by life, by the universe, by the greater power present in every creation in this world…
So, I invite you to take a look at where you may be harboring expectations when it comes to your dreams, how you can release your hold on them, and how you can start taking inspired action just because that’s what feels right to you in the present moment.
Do something just to do it, because you love it. Not because it will get you something, somewhere, or someone. Focus on how it feels to do it in the moment so you can carry that feeling with you—because, ultimately, it’s the feeling of what we desire that we are chasing.
Stay present. Take a breath. Release expectations for how it will go or end.
And go write that book.* Just to do it.
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* – Or any other activity you feel lit up by. 😉
As a writer, I’ve been through the editorial process with my own editor (and plan to again—even editors have editors). It’s not as scary as you might think! I credit my editor with helping my story to truly come out how it was meant to… And I want to help you do that too!
If you’re in the market for an editor who also knows what it’s like to be in the writer’s shoes (thus knows how to make it more fun and easeful), check out my editorial services here. I look forward to hearing from you!