Questions, Paths and Underbrush

I’m a day late with my blog because I had a couple of great visits with kids at Father Whelihan and Olympic Heights Schools in Calgary this week. Kids always ask me lots of questions of course, but I always manage to ask a few myself.

What books have you read lately that you really enjoyed? That question often leads me to investigate books I otherwise wouldn’t have read.

What do you find the hardest part of writing a story? That question often brings out answers I definitely understand. One idea we talked about is how story writing often starts with a great and wonderful idea but then dies a slow death as one struggles to put it into words. It takes a lot of planning mixed in with inspiration to write a story. And it takes a lot of faith.

I was thinking about the “faith” end of it this morning because I just received several new magazines about the latest, greatest books out there. Those magazines intimidate me. Even when one of the books in them has my name on it with a good review, I’m still intimidated. Look at all those great stories! I can’t do that!

But it’s not what other people write that I need to think about. I need to think about the story I’m working on. I need to have faith in the story itself and my ability to write it well. If I keep the faith, slowly I’ll find the path through all the doubts, dead ends and distracting underbrush that are part of writing.

Wishing you success in finding your own paths, wherever they may lead.

Hazel Hutchins