Sisyphean Endeavors

Sisyphean Endeavors

Writing “The Return of Sir Percival: Book I – Guinevere’s Prayer” was a labor of love, but also a formidable and often frustrating task. When I began the endeavor, the characters were already traveling the byroads of my mind, as if my imagination were their domain, instead of mine. They conversed, laughed, fought, suffered, fell in love, and traversed half the world before their fates converged on the isle of Albion.

If I could have just thrown a switch and projected the visions within upon a wall, the creative process would have been so much easier, and Book II would be within days of completion. Alas, that’s not the way of it. The right words must be found and woven together, over and over again, until the written whole bears some resemblance to what is in the mind’s eye.

I suspect the writing process is a walk in the park for some writers. For me, it’s often a Sisyphean endeavor, and even on the good days, it’s difficult. I find the secret to reaching the finish line is to be relentless. There are a thousand distractions seeking to abscond with what little time I have available for writing, and many are more alluring than a keyboard and a blank page, but if I want to write the next story, they have to wait.