Wording

A friend sent me a note today that was as profound as it was brief. It said simply, "You are the best person I know and I am a better person for knowing you."

Sixteen words. His ability to so succinctly demonstrate such a sweet sentiment truly impressed me. The sentiment itself, I have to take issue with because I am clearly not the best person he knows.

But, his note got me thinking about the words I choose. As a writer, words are the blocks with which I build and the colors with which I paint. As I arrange and rearrange them, I don't always give clear thought to the particular words I choose.

As I seek to return to myself, I am reminded of the half-written book that quietly sleep in my laptop. I don't know how the story ends, which is why I stopped writing it to begin with. I don't know how the characters' lives turn out in the end. I feel unworthy of the power to determine their fates. Maybe as I take control of my fate, I will, in turn, be free to begin to shape theirs.

I will set a new goal for the month: to dive back into the novel and move the story forward.