The Unfinished Tower

When I step back from my writing, the work I've done seems similar to that of building a tower. Drawing out the plans, erecting the frame, the scaffolding, the steel structure, so on and so on. Scraps and waste litter the ground. It's hard work when you want it to come out right, but it's work I couldn't stop if I tried.

Of course, there is a bit of narcissism in writing it and I can see ways I correlate to the biblical Tower of Babel- my construct being a work of pride and vanity, certainly, but also a means of identity and progression. I think I should be lucky writing is my personal desire in life. It is as simple as finding pen and paper. The hard part is making it something other people want to read.

Luckily, I am not building my tower alone. I get help from other people. People throw in their suggestions and their experience. They tell me when I am wandering or to narrow-minded. They help me find the courage to overcome my self-doubts. My greatest inspiration is my little brother. He draws and I write. He draws all the time. It is not a labor for him, it is what makes him happy. He wants to be an artist. He just got out of community college and my father is trying to shove jobs down his throat, but he sticks with what he wants to do. He doesn't even seem to even recognize the possibility f him doing anything else in life. Seeing someone so aimed at a goal they truly want for themselves is a sight that's hugely inspiring in it's own very, very simple way.

I've found that writing is a stamina sport. Any one can run the first few miles, but it's hanging in there when your lungs are heaving and your body feels like falling apart that really define you and propel you. I've heard the saying "it never seems to go anywhere until it's done." Usually because I'm the one that said it and it seems that way, sometimes, but Rome was not built in a day and neither will my tower so I go brick by brick. But even with the work, it's still the best feeling in the world.