Do We Ever Really Know Where We’re Going?

Yesterday I was sitting in my green chair, trying to work, texting my sister, wishing I had better hair — all the usual distractions, and (of course) not working. I wrote this text:

I think I need a therapist.

Then the phone rang. It was my friend M, who happens to be a therapist.

Maybe universal synchronicity, maybe just a coincidence (though I am claiming it as universal synchronicity). We laughed. I told her a few of my problems. She told me a few of hers. I repeated to M what my sister and I are always saying, about our mother in particular and life in general: “I wish I had a crystal ball.”

Ah, that’s the problem, M said. We all want to know where we’re going. Just remember (she said), that even when we think we know, we don’t really know. We just have to go there.

To paraphrase Ray Bradbury, to write a book all you have to do is figure out what your hero wants, and then follow him while he tries to get it. “Tries” = takes action. Clarity isn’t, in other words, a guarantee, but it is one big step in the right direction.

I am awake rather too early because I’m thinking about my writing projects, which are a little muddled right now. So, Bethany, let’s begin here:

What do you really really want?