Humbled

 Every now and then I get a little full of myself and need to be reminded of that fact. Fortunately, I am blessed with friends who do so gently. Sigh.

So I'm nearing completion of my second book, "American Storm," and think I've got it almost ready to go...when a friend sends me little post-it notes indicating 57 places I need to fix something. Missed a period here, wrong word there, extra word there... And this was the 4th draft! I could see one or two, but 57? Yikes!

Part of me is like, "Ouch, I suck."  But then another part of me is like, "You're only human. And thank goodness you have friends like that!"

If nothing else, the process of learning to write books has been humbling. It's been educational beyond belief. Intriguing on an epic level. Frustrating, anxiety inducing, mind-numbing and much more, but humbling is the one piece that sticks out. And it's been good for me. 

I am reminded of when I started graduate school. I took a class called "Research Design and Writing," on how to write a graduate level thesis. Day One, my professor asks us to write 1-2 pages on what we plan to research. "OK," I thought, "I can do this. I'm a pretty good writer with an idea of what I want to do. No problem." So I wrote my page-and-a-half and submitted it. 

The next day, he returned it. It's quite possible that he had written more on it than I had! And this was in the day when blood red ink was the color of choice for professor comments. Fortunately I saw his comments and the class as an opportunity to learn. I kept that paper front and center for a long time as a reminder. I never completed my thesis, but from it I learned a lot that helped me when 30 years later I decided to go down this road. Evidently education can take different forms and can take a long time. 

What's my point? Give yourself a break, especially this holiday season. Nobody is perfect. Things happen for a reason and in their own time. And find friends who will gently point out your issues with post-it notes instead of red ink.