Good morning, friends! Hope you've had a good week.
As an author, folks ask me all the time about the process. Well, here's my short answer: it takes so much longer than you think. Sigh!
Having published 3 times my own books and contributed to several others, the process of writing, re-writing and re-writing again just is what it is. By time you get to the words in hard copy form that someone can buy, your end product might be unrecognizable to the words you penned in the beginning.
Or simply put: the story changes for lots of different reasons. Story, our word for the week that means: an account or incident of events.
No matter if you are writing about your life or not, I believe this: it is easy to forget how pliable your stories are.
In my work with people through the years, I would be a rich woman for every time I heard something like: "My miserable job will not get better." Or, "I will never find anyone to marry." Or "I will never have grandchildren." And so on and so on.
Your thinking about your life so easily can become narrow and final.
Your thinking about your life so easily can become all about the expected ways you think something might happen.
Your thinking about your life can so easily can become about a single story which in fact is not the only story.
In Brave Church, I write about the danger of having a single story about yourself or others thanks to the wisdom of a Ted Talk by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie (that is so fabulous by the way, please do watch).
Adichie encourages us to stop telling the same story and see the bigger context.
If there is anything I want more for you in this week ahead, it's the joy of an evolving story.
That even though this terrible thing happened to you, it's not the end.
That even though this disappointment landed in your life, it's not the final word.
And even though your life has had some rough chapters, the book is not finished.
So start here: think about one story you always tell about your life? It could be from recent memory. It could be from your childhood. Take time to sit with it this week and ask: why do I keep telling this story?
If you are reading this email, your life story isn't finished. Keep going. Keep living it. Have an open mind as to what the meaning of your story will be.
XO
Elizabeth
