One step at a time

When I was at primary school, in our classroom, we used to have a collection of quick, straightforward books about different inventions and inventors. I loved reading these books. Whenever you finished your work, you were allowed to choose a book to read. Needless to say, I finished early, frequently.

One of my favourites,Thomas Edison, is quoted as saying, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." And for one of my passions in life, writing, I am quite happy to apply that analogy to it. I have tried, over the last few years, to develop and improve my skills.

And this week, I have just finished a short online workshop with Jodi Henley looking at character development. What can I say, I have been well on the way to claiming I know a number of ways which don't work. And at the end of this course, for the first time, I do believe I am now on the right track. I can't quite say that I know what I am doing, and I will do it right now. But I know for certain that I am at the beginning of something new. Something that feels right, something that even though I can't see the end product yet, makes sense. It feels organic and logical, and I am buzzing with the thrill of a possible success. So I am about to embark on another journey, another attempt to accomplish my goal.

Thomas Edison also says, 'I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us- everything that exists - proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision." - This statement defines writing for me. Writing has rules, some vague, some clear and some evolving, but it is like someone has just explained to me that algebraic letters are just representing an unknown quantity - and with a little bit of exploration, I can fill in the gaps and solve the equation. It's a great feeling.

With her final comments to me today, Jodi Henley said, "To my mind, there's nothing worse than telling someone to do something (because nothing is ever set in stone) without telling them how. That's what I want for people--to know the why and how."

All I can say in response, to both Thomas Edison and Jodi is, thank goodness there are people out there who are happy to share their expertise. I can only achieve what I can, because of their illuminating the way.

What I'm interested to know is: who has helped you on your journey and how?