Serendipity or Coincidence or Both
I hadn't written anything, zero, zilch, zip, nought for many years. O.K the odd poem but only if it just had to be written, as in, it literally came from my thoughts and formed into a perfect and whole poem, no thinking, no changing, no working on it. From feelings to paper, an honest transference.
Other than that I hadn't written anything since my script, children's books and poems years ago. I also wasn't expecting to write anything, I wasn't waiting on an idea or trying to cultivate an idea and I was most definitely not dreaming of writing a novel. No thought of my next project or idea was anywhere near me or was I even interested in it coming anywhere near me. I was a blank page so to speak.
I had just had my baby daughter and I was literally nothing short of ecstatic. I was in my mummy bubble of la la baby land and loving every golden moment of it. Writing couldn't have been further from my thoughts. So it was a shock that whilst driving one day this idea of The Highwaygirl came jumping head first to me, completely out of the blue I didn't come to it, it came to me.
I had given up my job to be a mum, a delicious prospect even though tough on the purse strings. I had planned to go back to work when my daughter reached two years old. Well my daughter reached her two years's, then suddenly The Highwaygirl book idea came to me and more suddenly so did my inheritance, all in one perfectly timed timing of events. Which timely brings me to the reason for this blog and the curious question of; was this serendipity, coincidence, both or none of the above?
Well I'm one of those creatures who believes that there are no coincidences. I believe that you, the universe, your ancestors and whatever else there is in the mix plays a beautiful hand at handing you opportunities, whether you choose to take them or not. Whether you know the possible outcome of those opportunities or not. Whether you like them or not. Or whether you are oblivious to the opportunity at the beginning but roll with it anyway and then realise further down the line that you had been given an opportunity.
Well the last one is my one. I just rolled with it, no sorry, I just ran with it and wrote me a novel. I chose to grab it and run with it, and have fun with it. And I slowly began realising a bit later on that I had been given an amazing opportunity and that, without resistance, I had indeed gone with it. And thank goodness for that because I don't think I've ever loved writing as much as I did whilst writing The Highwaygirl. I was so happy writing The Highwaygirl. The Highwaygirl made me so happy. The characters, the making-it-up, the story, the storytelling. I was happy I was partaking in one of the oldest rituals to man, storytelling. Making fires, food and stories are profound and I love the stories part of that primal trio. I also love making fires but I leave the making food part to my husband, I hate that one, so two out of three for me.
And I love and I am grateful that I had been given this opportunity. If all else fails, happiness didn't fail me whilst writing my opportune book The Highwaygirl.
In another blog I had written about how my Dad had constantly told me to write throughout my life, it was one of my driving forces when writing this book. I wasn't the class room smartypants. I was most definitely not an academic. It was always a challenge to pass exams and get good grades. It felt like I was swimming along another river and swimming up stream at that. I didn't fit-in in the world of traditional schooling. But for some reason my Dad said I was a good writer. He seemed to see something in me that I and the rest of my school teachers didn't. He believed in me. And he never once wavered from believing in me. So I often wondered if he had done any manoeuvring himself from way up in the heavens with some of his now angelic buddies on the oh so perfect timing of my inheritance which came at the oh so perfect timing of my highwaygirl idea. I birthed a baby and a book in a few short years and I couldn't have done any of it without both serendipity and coincidence.