by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell
When someone places high-quality dark chocolate in front of you and asks if you would like to eat the morsel, you’re suddenly faced with the easiest decision known to humanity. A cat couldn’t snatch it faster, and as the taste fills your mouth, you manage to say, “no…no I’m on a diet.” Gulp.
Decisions from this point get harder. What to wear, eat, who to chat with, what text to send, what Facebook and Tweet to post, how to feel about this and that—all before getting out of bed. And what’s worse, the chocolate was a dream. So…stay in bed and it can’t go wrong.
Indecision will kill a career, and writing is no different. I’ve sat across from someone who paid $800 to enter the writer’s conference, another $400 for hotel fees—and that doesn’t include the $20 for a carwash to spiff up the image. They tell me they just don’t know if they want to be a writer. What if they make the wrong decision?
If you ask—should I write a book—know that you’re really asking—do I have what it takes to write a book? You wouldn’t ask if you didn’t want to write. And as for knowing if you have what it takes to write a book, the answer is similar to a war veteran who is asked—could I fight/kill/survive a war like you? The veteran looks at the civilian youth and responds—yes, yes you could, and it’s not easy, but you would rise to the challenge.
I HAVE THE ANSWER TO INDECISION
Anywhere along the writing process, indecision can cripple headway. What if I make a wrong decision about my characters/agent/publisher/plotline/spouse/purchase/word choice/pants?
Okay, here’s what to do. Go online and buy a one-way plane ticket to Thessaloniki (you may not need a return ticket, depending…). From the airport, find a cheap guide to take you to a small mountain village by the name of Pythia. There, if the ruins have been reconstructed, bring your wallet inside and ask for someone named Oracle. Oracle of Delphi is her name, and she’ll give you a maxim you probably won’t understand until after your choice is played out.
Why am I so flippant and insulting? Because the only wrong answer to your indecisive question is to tread into immoral practice and sinful indolence.
Decisive people have a secret. Gather as much useful information as possible and then act, knowing there is no knowing the future and there is no right answer. None. We’re fallen creatures due to a stupid, immoral, sinful act that involved fruit but wasn’t chocolate. The only right answer is to give God the glory and love each other. The rest is already wrong.
And that’s why we write. We show how messed up the world is, and that God and love is the answer. So…what are you waiting for? Stop being indecisive. Go learn as much as you can and act as if you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Writing is chocolate. Gulp!
Philip Anderson keeps his past close to the vest. Haunted by the murder of his parents as they traveled West in their covered wagon, his many unanswered questions about that night still torment him.
His only desire is to live quietly on his homestead and raise horses. He meets Anna, a beautiful young woman with secrets of her own. Falling in love was not part of his plan. Can Philip tell her how he feels before it’s too late?
With Anna a pawn in the corrupt schemes brewing in the nearby Dakota town, Philip is forced to become a reluctant gunslinger. Will Philip’s uncannily trained horses and unsurpassed sharpshooting skills help him free Anna and find out what really happened to his family in the wilderness?
Peter Leavell, a 2007/2020 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and a MA in English Literature, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild’s Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing’s Best award for First-Time Author, along with multiple other awards. An author, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter’s books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com