Ain't No Mountain High Enough*

Actually, scratch that.  There are probably mountains high enough to physically keep me from doing something.  Like Mount Everest.  Or the one to the left -- it looks really huge.  But I digress.  Slightly.

I'm almost at the halfway point for National Novel Writing Month in regards to the date, and am officially there in regards to my word count with the bit I've managed to type out today.  And I've thought of quitting and chucking my story with all its twists and turns a number of times over the last fourteen days.  But as I've had to remind myself repeatedly (and this year in particular as my Inner Editor is proving to be a tenacious little thing) that is part of the challenge.  The goal is not necessarily to write well, but to just get the words (and hopefully a somewhat cohesive story) out.  The polishing and fixing and revising comes later, once the structure is there.  It's like building a house -- you don't start with the paint and the furniture and all the things that make a house a home.  You start with the mess of digging a hole for the foundation, pouring concrete, putting up beams, mudding and taping drywall.  And even renovations (and revisions when working with a story) can be messy.  Yet not many people would complain about the end results when the mess is cleaned up and order is restored.  Unless they had horrible contractors.  But again, I digress.  This time, greatly. 

But it is easy to do things like talk about writing books or renovating homes,  and even about climbing mountains.  Yet as many people know who have tried climbing mountains both real and figurative, it's another thing to actually get out there and do it.  But is it worth it?

That I cannot answer for you.  I can't tell you if the cost will be worth what you hope to gain (and actually gain) in the end.  And I don't want you to climb any old mountain.  You see, you shouldn't be climbing a mountain just for the sake of the climb.  Consider these words Jesus spoke to His disciples:

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him . . ."  --Luke 14: 28-29 (NKJ)

Again, you have to take into account the cost of what you're about to do.  And if you don't, you may very well be mocked.  And who likes that? 

Now I'd like to wrap this all up with some awesome question or insight, but I do have about 900 more words to write and I think my Inner Editor is finally sleeping . . .

*The weekly blog entry is, yes, a day early as tomorrow I work all day instead of my customary half day.  In case anyone was wondering.  ;-)