As I gathered with some friends to watch The Hobbit, a particular exchange between Gandalf and Bilbo stood out to me.
Biblo: Can you promise that I will come back?
Gandalf: No. And if you do... you will not be the same.
What does Bilbo do? He goes to bed.
Yes, he heads to catch some winks with expectations to go on with his life as normal in the morning. He most likely begged the Hobbit gods to make the houseful of impolite dwarves swarming his kitchen to disappear by the time he awoke.
Baggins cowers away, tempted more by the comforts of his established and quiet life. When he wakes and finds himself alone, the itching Took inside him drives him out if his quaint home to join the dwarves and Gandalf on their dangerous adventure. The hobbit didn't know what was ahead of him but he went regardless of possible incineration or countless other gruesome deaths.
We as writers take on a similar journey. Although, hopefully minus sleeping on the ground and fighting trolls and dragons (at least not in our minds).
Journeying on an adventure with words does not have any guarantees. There isn't a contract at the beginning saying it is going to work exactly how you want it to.
There are ups and downs and depression that hits when you least expect it.
But through the words that often times cramp our fingers from typing, we are not the same as when we began. We are better, far better for it because we tried regardless of the end result.
So keep on writing.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
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Writing Jewels
