Sending Ships Out of The Harbor

Several years ago I started a business book club. I invited other lawyers, stock brokers, PR professionals, even a librarian. We met at my office and discussed a book we had all agreed on. It was fun and was a good way to get to know people I met at networking events. Unfortunately, it died of its own weight after only about six months. People were too busy to read the book, to attend, etc.

But I remember some of the books we read and the discussions we had. One of the books was "The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction" by Chellie Campbell. I only remember one thing about the book - the author's theory that you need to think about things you do to further yourself as little ships that you send out of the harbor. We don't know which ones will come home laden with goods, which ones will sink, which ones will never be heard from again, and we don't know when any of this will happen. I guess the only thing we know is that nothing good will happen if we keep all of the ships tied up at the dock.

I think about this all the time with my writing -- not just when I send out a query letter or submit a short story to a magazine, but every time I say "yes" when someone asks if I want to sit in on a writing group or if I meet a writer who is interested in exchanging pages. It's scary and each individual thing is unlikely to lead to a big "aha" moment, but you can never tell. Someday something wonderful will come chugging around the breakwater.

In the time I've been serious about my writing -- about five years now -- I've kept plugging away at it, going to seminars, workshops, trying writing groups, reading writing books, talking, talking, talking about process and mostly just trying to get myself to sit down in the chair and do it. I guess I don't have much to show for it if you look at it in a business-like sense. But when I look at my shelf full of binders of things I've written, look at my file folders of research and ideas, and look at my calendar and see weeks filled with things to do and people to meet that are directly related to my writing, I do get a feeling of accomplishment.

And I don't even know how many ships are out there out of radio contact. I just know there are a lot of them and I will keep sending more.