Eckhart Tolle changed my life. I read The Power of Now in 2008 when I was going through major transitions in life. That book, along with The Secret and A New Earth truly changed the way I thought about the world and myself. When I am in tune with the teachings my life is at peace. When I begin to live outside of the Now, I find myself in turmoil and worry. There is this point of being where you don’t worry anymore about the past or future. You live in the present and because you are not losing energy to past thoughts or occurrences, or having your energy stolen by contemplating the future, you accomplish so much more in life. It can be hard to focus on the present and our own lives when so many other issues threaten to creep into our minds. The way that people allow politics, Hollywood, gossip and other external, outside-of-your-realm-of-control things take over their minds is frightening. How can you ever live up to your full potential if you are feeding major amounts of energy to these things that truly, on a very realistic basis, do not affect your day-to-day life?

Life is divided between your mind and soul. The mind is where thought takes place. The soul is a whispery chasm we are not meant to fully grasp. It is a place where what we are and where we came from meet and converse in an unfamiliar tongue. Somewhere, between the mind and soul, creativity rises and comes to the surface. If I ever hope to create anything great, I must find a way to interpret as much of my own soul, as possible. What do you want me to say? That is the question I speak out into the abyss. It sounds crazy, but answers come.

Life gives us what we need. Sometimes, even with my strong faith, I fall into doubt and wonder if I’m on the right path. There are moments when the thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen, occurs. In that moment, when you are standing there facing the inevitable, you have a choice. You can whine, complain and get upset about things or you can accept that this thing is going to happen whether you want it to or not and start making plans to accommodate what is taking place. This is true in life, and writing. Sometimes things don’t quite turn out the way we want them to.

The first draft of the chapter I’ve been fighting with for over a week is not perfect. It is not even near where I want it to be. However, today as I read through it, I didn’t fight against the prose or critique the dialogue. I just read through it and decided that what it is right now is okay. It has good stuff but it needs to be rounded out and shaped into something better. Over time and with intense chiseling, the chapter will begin to look like what I need it to be. I’ve neglected Ian and Kelly for so long. Just as a parent returning to their children after years of neglect I have to take some time to get to know them. That means writing a lot of nonsense and then shifting through it.

This morning I woke up with words on my mind. I started writing as soon as I was out of bed and did not stop for several hours. Around midday I took a nap and woke up instantly charged to write again. Tonight, after a brief stint away from home, I returned with the hunger to write. This is easy. People write books all the time. The only thing standing between myself and publication…is myself. It’s that easy. That simple. No matter what else is going on in my life, I need to write. Nothing else matters at this point.

So, tonight, since my energy was barely tapped today, I will stay up late pondering what to do about the fourth chapter. It is already written, unlike the chapter I most recently pulled out of nowhere. In fact, the new chapter two was written, in it’s entirety, this month. Thank you NaNoWriMo! I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement and stress that writing 1,666 words a day placed upon my shoulders. Like I said before, life always gives us what we need.