Like any complex creative process, writing a novel requires the creator to make make a million decisions one at a time. It takes time and energy and, oddly enough, faith. Faith that, by showing up, we can make progress. Faith that we will have more ideas. Faith that we will have the skill to put our ideas into our work. Faith that we will finish this massive project one day.
I was feeling dismayed about the novel I am working on. It’s taking me a long time to write it and I do fear it won’t ever be finished. But I found this great quote in my notebook, and am grateful for the hope it gives me:
With the best of intentions and the most diligent of practices, [faith] still wears thin. Fatigue can make it hard to have faith. Too much busyness can make it hard to have faith. Too much or too little solitude can impact faith. For that matter, so can a bout of hunger or overwork, anything carried to an extreme. Faith thrives on routine. Look at any monastery and you will see that. Faith keeps on keeping on.
Julia Cameron in Finding Water, p. 43.
Losing faith is part of the process. So is getting it back. So keep on keeping on.
