Guest Blog 2
Steven R. Southard aka Poseidon’s Scribe joins Samjoko Magazine today to talk about beginnings.
The Thrill and Terror of Beginnings
Steven R. Southard aka Poseidon’s Scribe
If you’re a writer starting a new story, or an editor starting a new online magazine, or anyone beginning a new project of any kind, the beginning is thrilling and terrifying.
Thrilling because you’re imagining how great it will be when it’s finished, how much others will appreciate it.
Terrifying because there’s a chance you’ll fail, produce something awful, and all your hard work will be for nothing.
Though we can’t see the future, we can remember our past, both the successes and the failures. Our past successes give us confidence, but our past failures make us cautious.
Hindsight may be 20/20, but foresight is beyond 20/200, the definition of legally blind. Our future self knows how things will turn out, but can’t tell us.
The beginning is a time of infinite promise, of wondrous expectations, of boundless hope. But our minds tinge those feelings with understandable doubt, worry, and even dread.
All great projects in history had beginnings, and those in charge felt the same way you do now. Before Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he likely fretted about whether his contemporaries would applaud it. Before the Egyptian pyramid designers begin work, they must have felt trepidation, too. What would the pharaoh do if the structure collapsed?
Perhaps the thrill and terror we feel are not only understandable, not only inevitable, but perhaps also necessary. Without some measure of thrill, we’d never begin anything. Without feeling some terror, we’d embark on stupid, pointless, unplanned projects and almost always fail.
In his book Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury captured the combination of thrill and terror in an interesting way. After reading an Irish police report about a man being “drunk and in charge of a bicycle,” Bradbury decided that phrase described how he wrote stories.
Perhaps that condition—drunk and in charge of a bicycle—describes the beginning of all stories, the start of all worthwhile endeavors.
[Safety Note: When I use Bradbury’s phrase, I’m using it metaphorically. I do not endorse operating any sort of vehicle, including a bicycle, while intoxicated.]
If thrill and terror, in some combination, must accompany the beginning of your project, then I suggest you temper those emotions with an objective, rational outlook.
In other words, don’t go pedaling down that path without planning your route first. Channel the energy of the thrill and terror you feel into visualizing, preparing, and organizing your effort. As Plato said, “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
Allow some
flexibility in your plans, though. Realize that circumstances may alter your vision along the way. As Martin Luther King Junior put it, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
With your feelings of thrill and terror, regulated by rational organization, I wish you luck as you begin your story. I wish Todd Sullivan (and the rest of the staff at Samjoko) luck as they introduce their magazine to the world.
If the American Indian proverb is true, that “No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning,” then may the river of your project flow with a strong and long-lasting current. Begin now!
Steven R. Southard aka Poseidon’s Scribe
Steven R. Southard’s short stories appear in over a dozen anthologies including Not Far from Roswell, Re-Terrify, and Quoth the Raven. He co-edited the anthology 20,000 Leagues Remembered. An engineer and former submariner, Steve takes readers on voyages to far-off places and long-ago times aboard amazing vehicles accompanied by engaging characters. Steve scribbles in several genres including steampunk, clockpunk, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Set sail to stevenrsouthard.com to learn more about his fictional adventures.
