Making art is magical! But it doesn’t always feel that way. And for me personally, I get further and further away from that feeling the older I get. That’s why part of my process is looking for the magic.

In the current draft of my novel, I have been developing the antagonists and the larger conflict of the story alongside the development of the novel. There have been many editorial conversations about it. After I completed the first draft and got my notes back on the novel, I had a breakthough on what I wanted the backstory of the antagonists to be. I wrote it up and sent it off to the editors.

In the revision draft, I had to bring that new backstory to life. It all went well, but I wasn’t sure if the conflict was going to work on paper. As I was editing the second-to-last chapter two days ago, the answer came to me, like magic. But it was a magic I had invested in. I had written the novel outline, I had had development conversations, I had written a first draft, a new story concept, a revision draft, and now that I was editing, the story opened up and showed me the path!

If we are committed to the work, the work will unfold and show it’s secrets. The challenge is we don’t know exactly when in the process the magic will happen. Artmaking requires us to act on faith with the belief that if we show up, we do the work, we consistently engage, the art will respond and reveal its heart and its mysteries. That’s a big part of why many of us are in the game—for that magical moment where the strands we’ve been so meticulously weaving connect in a way we didn’t expect or didn’t see coming.

If only we sit with it long enough and consistently enough for the connection to reveal itself.

Goal Check-In:

• My huge success of May is that I finished editing my YA draft. The revisions and edits happen back-to-back. I revise on the computer, moving big chunks around, adding in details that need to be added, editing out details that have changed. And then I print the whole thing out and edit by hand. This was beastly work because with all the revisions, I had a lot of rewriting and reframing to do. (I may have to change my habits for next novel and do the edits by computer, not by hand.)  Regardless, it is done. I fell great relief. Starting tomorrow, I have to type up all the edits. It will be miserable, lol. But I will get it done in time for my 6/7 deadline.!
• The nonfiction book pitch continues to evolve. I am working with three other people on the project and we’ve been meeting regularly to move it forward. So it stays on my goals list.
• My kids site—which I was hoping to launch in May—is still not launched. My developer had a series of health issues. Hopefully, it will launch by mid-June. In the meantime, I’m updating my ebooks and preparing for the next push.

Even if the work is not easy, it doesn’t mean it isn’t worthy and the magic isn’t coming. Our job is to stand for our work. Through the breath of our effort, the steadiness of our consistency and the fierceness of our focus, our work will also, stand for us.

Onward!