This weekend I was mowing the lawn and I kept getting interrupted by neighbors who wanted to chat. Since I am relatively new to the area, I turned off the mower and took a few moments here and there to build ties with several in the neighborhood. Each time a chat ended I went back to mowing.
I was happily mowing away when the sky began to darken, the wind picked up and thunder could be heard over the mower. Determined, I kept mowing. I just had one section of lawn left when the first few drops fell. I kept mowing and even appreciated the rain that was cooling me off. With just two rows of grass to go the mower ran out of gas. I sprinted to the garage to get the can as the rain was really coming down, but I was going to get that grass cut if it killed me! I filled the mower, but the rain was pounding so bad I could not see…I had to admit defeat as I ran to the garage with the gas can and pulled an old towel over my head to go back and get the mower.
In a matter of minutes, a flash flood devastated portions of the town I lived in. Including my own basement. As I stood in the garage watching the deluge of water fill the streets overtaking the storm drainage system, I decided to grab my rake and head to the drains and remove the debris to keep the drains flowing as fast as possible. Homes and cars on our street depended on these drains to protect them and the drains were failing. I knew many of the men in the homes would come out in the rain to keep the drains clear, but I was already soaked and felt this was my way of helping the neighbors I had been chatting with a short time ago.
As the streets cleared and the rain slowed, I went inside feeling like I had accomplished something…except for those two rows of grass I still needed to mow. I would knock out those two rows tomorrow if it was dry enough to mow them.
As I pondered the day, I said to myself I wish authors I work with would just keep writing they way I kept mowing today. There will be interruptions or people wanting to chat or need your assistance, but immediately go back to writing. There will be storms in life…just keep writing. There will be times when you have two scenes left in a chapter and you must stop for the day but knock those out tomorrow. Don’t let the little distractions make you take a detour, don’t get irritated or frustrated get determined! Develop a determination to finish your book and don’t let people, storms or life stop you!
