The ground is still hard

This last weekend I went roller-skating with a friend of mine. It has been years since I went and it took a while to remember how to move on skates. I wasn't on the new cool in-line skates; I was totally old school with the four wheels and stopper. After a while I was skating around with my eight year old having a great time. There was authentic seventies and eighties music playing and I was transported to my elementary school self. I was feeling pretty confident, dancing as I skated and decided to try a fancier skating technique. In a instant, before I even knew what was happening, I was on the ground with no idea how I had gotten there. I blinked in a sort of daze. Kids were soaring by me and people swerved around me as I quickly dusted myself off and discovered a sore butt and soon to be bruised wrist. I steadied myself and, injuries aside, I started skating again, still having fun. It was even better because now I had war wounds and a story to share. I wasn't embarrassed or ashamed I fell. I used to fall when I was younger so I knew that wouldn't have changed now that I was older and haven't skated in years. In all honesty, my fall made me and my friends laugh. Soon we were all giggling together. I skated the rest of the session still feeling fine. A little beat up, but fine. Sadly though, two days later, I'm still icing my tail bone and my wrist is a little sore. Even with that, though, I would still go skating again because I had enough fun to make up for the pain.

It reminded me of writing too (everything seems to these days). We, as writers, are having a great time plotting our stories, doing great, when suddenly we stumble over a scene/line/character and we end up on the ground not even realizing we were falling. Then we get up, dust ourselves off and keep on writing. We may be a little sore from our setback but we keep going. Why? Because despite the setback, bruises, and ice-packs, the journey and experience are totally worth it. We have friends who can commiserate with us and offer us a hand up when we need one. We stand up a little wiser than we were before each fall and press forward knowing every fall, bump and obstacle will only make us better in the long run.