The Blessing of Being Bossed (Part 2)

Since graduation, I wrote without a boss, but I that's changed now.

I've said it before, writing is hard.

Since May 2014, six books by published authors about how to write memoir joined my shelf. These authors offer what they wish they had when they were committing their own stories to the page. Another dozen memoirs, beautifully written, show me the diversity of how people share themselves. At the end of 2014, playing with schedules, motivations and consuming the words of others produced not a line of my own.

As it turns out, reading about work does not a product make, writing a book is different than news stories or magazine articles. Common sense would tell me this. Experience teaches me better. Chapters. Theme. Tens of thousands of words? A book resembles so much more than newsy, objective information for the public, and the mindset has taken time to develop.

I once again own the blessing of being bossed. She came to me in January. My new boss leans on me, compelling me to Sharpies and wide-ruled notebook paper for mind-mapping phrases and ideas. She keeps me awake staring at the flickering LED candle on my bookshelf, thinking about angles, figures of speech and possible chapters. She gets me snatching images and phrases on my cell phone before they fly away in the night.

January took me to Italy to visit my son at Aviano Air Force Base. His house rests just up the base of the Dolomite mountain range and above Dardago di Budoia, a village dating from the early 1700s. While he worked, I explored the village and climbed the mountain following an ancient aqueduct as it brought pure, ice cold water from high up the mountain.

My boss came with me on this trip. She whispered, "Don't let go, don't take time for granted. Do it. Do the hard thing. Do it today. Remember why you want to write, remember why." I drafted the first three chapters with a view of Italy through wide glass doors and the naked trees of winter.

Back home now, I attend full-time class at Codeup, a school downtown that teaches how to get from knowing nothing to developing fully functional web pages from scratch in a few months.

My boss continues to whisper, "Yes, I know you are in school. Don't lose your momentum. Remember why you want to write, remember why."

With the first month of Codeup under my belt this week, I've adjusted to the new schedule and demands. It's time to produce again.

Her voice doesn't fail me because she is my better self. She knows what I want and what I hope to give back. She can tell when I am distracting myself from the hard thing. I know by now that she's right.