In time for the New
I challenge you to find someone who doesn't claim a book as a prime fount of inspiration, motivation, or awakening. I bet you will spend a long time looking.
I've read many novels, several self-help books, and a couple memoirs and biographies. None have succeeded in making me DO something different like Matthew McConaughey's Greenlights. Now I know that he is a male middle-aged celebrity with enough wealth to do just about anything he wanted, but I couldn't help but be enamored with the adventure and fun of it all. So I selected Greenlights as my road trip entertainment, hoping to combat my sleepiness and overall angst with the hours on the road ahead. I also knew the audiobook would bring a new perspective (as in Matthew McConaughey narrating his life in real time, to me). I packed the car, picked up a coffee, and settled in to my 3.5 hour drive down I-65.
I listened to about half the book, frequently snatching my phone from the dash to screenshot a time stamp I wanted to revisit later. I even, very unsafely, tried to create a Notes page on my phone to document my favorite quotes, most humorous one-liners, and paramount jaw-dropping prescriptions. I was so amped upon my arrival to Birmingham that I did the only thing I knew to do: start my own novel.
This wasn't my first go at starting a book. This wasn't even my first time writing a book. To date, I have written Lizzie's birthday party (my 3rd grade debut for the writing contest), and Operation Ollie (the spy kids meets ice-cream truck 7th grade whodunnit piece). This was however, the first time I actually planned on going through with it.
Because a notepad isn't always on hand, and sometimes there is too much to say with too little time, I have taken to the voice memos app as my primary source of recording. Every segment is titled "I could write a book" with the date next to it. I wonder if that will be the title.
In short, I owe Matthew McConaughey a thank you for making me get up and actually DO. Go walk the two miles, start writing in the journal, drink the black coffee, and not be afraid of doing a 180 if God calls me that way. For owning what I have to say and trusting that maybe someone wants to hear it. While this blog may fall dorment, and the inevitable inconsistencies and unpredictabilities may sabotage my creative sprint, I hope I can get relative and stay excited about sharing stories, in whatever form that may be.
Here's to a year of imaginative bliss, getting my hands in the dirt, and reframing the roadblocks.
From one storyteller to another,
Mary Grace Rowell