Are You Still In The Fog?

One February, we took a road trip heading southeast. On our second morning, I pulled aside the heavy draperies of the motel room window, hoping to see sunshine. Instead, I found a misty rain and light fog. “Fog again!” I said to my husband who stood before the mirror shaving.

We’d driven in fog the morning before when we set out from home to travel southeast, in hopes of finding a pocket of warmth during this winter month. As we crossed the hills of south central and southeast Kansas, we ran the gamut from a little fog to heavy curtains of it, blocking the view of the tallgrass prairie we normally enjoyed when driving this route.

I searched the road ahead for tail lights of any vehicles and the headlights of those approaching. At times, one would rise up from the fog, seeming to appear in only an instant. I watched the side roads, worrying that a truck or car would pull out in front of us before they realized we were there. Ken kept watch as he drove, and I offered one more set of eyes to help him. Fog frightens me almost as much as icy roads.

We left the motel, feeling relieved that the weather appeared to have improved. Euphoria lasted only a mile or two, as the arms of heavy fog wrapped around us and held on tightly, as though a lover who would never let go.

As writers, we sometimes move through years of our lives fighting fog, never being able to see clearly to our goals. We wait for the sun to break through and clear away the hard-to-see parts of our lives. Writers can feel like they're searching blindly to find the way to their publication goals. 

Then, that Aha! moment arrives and the world is bright and clear once again. That moment happens when we finally see what we need to do to improve our writing enough to achieve the goals we've set. For each of us, it occurs at a different time and a distinctly individual way. When it happens for me is not going to be the same as for you since our writing journeys are all different. 

You can help clear the fog away by continuing to learn your craft, hone your writing skills, and applying a whole lot of hard work.