Last Friday I went bike riding with my 10-year-old. It was great. We were by the water. She wobbled a lot, though she never fell.
I rode behind her. The path we took is a popular spot for runners and other bikers as well as walkers. There are two small lanes.
On one side lay the San Francisco Bay, a beatific sunset of crimson and orange covering the sky. To the other side of us ran an access road parallel the freeway.
I was impressed at how my 10 year-old kept looking back for me. She wanted me to catch up with her. I, of course, knew that a collision of our bikes would be imminent should I ride to closely.
And so I followed. Eventually my back tire went flat. I had to walk. My ten-year-old kept riding.
Writing is a lot like riding a bicycle and having another, more experienced partner follow you. That partner used to be your editor–you know, the one that the publisher provided once they accepted your manuscript for publication.
You often worked with that editor the length of your tenure, if not the majority of your writing life, with that publishing company. Nowadays you’re lucky to have an editor remain with you the length of time it takes to ready your novel for publication.
My, times have change. And then there are those that say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Writing is much the same. It’s like bike riding, something you learn to do by doing it, keeping it at it. Getting back up when you’ve fallen and back on the bicycle and pedaling once more.
The digital age has presented many things to those of us with words burning to get out of our heads, onto the screen and perhaps to the printed page.
We have the computer, and the internet that connects our computer to other computers, and our words to the eyes and hearts of readers and those who long for words to soothe their souls.
Those of us committed to presenting those words, launching them into the world, must write. We must ride the bicycle of our words and enter the sunrise of our hearts. We must tell the story–over and over until a new one presents itself.
And then, after we have rested, start to write, and begin a new story.
What is your story?
Are you resting, or are you pedaling?
Have you fallen off?
What would it take to get you back on the bike?