I wrote a book.
To all the people who have had to endure me talking about the genius novels I'll "someday write" (I was, of course, at my most arrogant and certain in my teenage years) are likely to be thinking: Wow -- took you forever, dude. Whether it is good or not will be the verdict of the rather small audience who ends up reading it.
I'm pleased with it -- if that means anything.
And I'll start offering it to the handful that would like to read it after it goes through all the revising and editing that I want. But at least it's done.
But that's not really the topic. I've been thinking about something one of the characters says. Which means it's really what I said (since Wit doesn't really exist), but still I think it most clearly states something that I believe. Anyway, Witmer of the Kingdom of Waverly explains to Raya, the hero, how the witch Elowyn came to be:
"Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a hundred different paths she could choose to take. And sadly, she chose the one that turned her into a witch and a tyrant.
"It's funny, you know. It's not like she sat down one day and said, 'I think I'd like to make everyone I love miserable forever.' But that's not how it works. We make little choices, not big ones. And then one day, we discover all those little choices carried us to the end of the path. That young girl chose her path, and no matter what she had in mind, no matter what she intended, her choices turned her into the miserable tyrant we all know so well."
And I've been thinking about all those little choices that Wit brings up. And I decided that, for me, who I become kind of depends on seven choices -- not seven big choices, but seven little choices that have to be made over and over and over:
1. What literature do I fill my soul with?
2. Who are the people I choose to surround myself with?
3. What do I choose to do with my spare time -- when no duties call and I have complete freedom to do whatever?
4. How do choose treat others?
5. What do I choose to do when nobody else is watching?
6. How do I choose to interpret what happens around me?
7. What attitude do I choose to have when challenges block my way?
To all the people who have had to endure me talking about the genius novels I'll "someday write" (I was, of course, at my most arrogant and certain in my teenage years) are likely to be thinking: Wow -- took you forever, dude. Whether it is good or not will be the verdict of the rather small audience who ends up reading it.
I'm pleased with it -- if that means anything.
And I'll start offering it to the handful that would like to read it after it goes through all the revising and editing that I want. But at least it's done.
But that's not really the topic. I've been thinking about something one of the characters says. Which means it's really what I said (since Wit doesn't really exist), but still I think it most clearly states something that I believe. Anyway, Witmer of the Kingdom of Waverly explains to Raya, the hero, how the witch Elowyn came to be:
"Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a hundred different paths she could choose to take. And sadly, she chose the one that turned her into a witch and a tyrant.
"It's funny, you know. It's not like she sat down one day and said, 'I think I'd like to make everyone I love miserable forever.' But that's not how it works. We make little choices, not big ones. And then one day, we discover all those little choices carried us to the end of the path. That young girl chose her path, and no matter what she had in mind, no matter what she intended, her choices turned her into the miserable tyrant we all know so well."
And I've been thinking about all those little choices that Wit brings up. And I decided that, for me, who I become kind of depends on seven choices -- not seven big choices, but seven little choices that have to be made over and over and over:
1. What literature do I fill my soul with?
2. Who are the people I choose to surround myself with?
3. What do I choose to do with my spare time -- when no duties call and I have complete freedom to do whatever?
4. How do choose treat others?
5. What do I choose to do when nobody else is watching?
6. How do I choose to interpret what happens around me?
7. What attitude do I choose to have when challenges block my way?