When I walked in, I was met with excited
voices and friendly faces and as I expected, the all-day workshop was an enormous
blessing. One of the main ideas that stuck with me was whether as a writer I am
a planner or someone who flies by the seat of her pants. The speaker also reiterated
the idea that we need to make a commitment to our writing in order to succeed. Once
the conference ended and I exchanged hugs and contact info with some new
friends, I drove to my favorite beach. As soon as I cut off the car engine and
hopped out, I yanked off my good shoes and threw on my flip-flops. Standing
there still wearing my dress clothes, I scanned the horizon where the afternoon
sunshine played freeze tag with a sky full of fluffy gray clouds. Inhaling the
salty air, I smiled and hustled down the weathered boardwalk that dropped me
into soft piles of sugar-white sand. Almost as soon as my toes -which were
sporting ocean blue nail polish- hit the sand, I could hear the waves roar. As
I trudged further toward the shore, the sound grew and I spied huge rolling
waves crashing one on top of another. The unusually high surf was the only
evidence that overnight Nestor had brushed past the Alabama coast dropping off
rain and stirring up the gulf.
I stared past the breaking waves to a
smattering of surfers who were patiently waiting for the chance to ride into
shore. Then another group on the beach caught my attention and I walked over to
speak to some board-short-wearing fellas. Each loosely held on to a short board
that was propped on the sand in front him like a fiberglass shield. When I
asked them about surfing, one guy politely explained they were skim-boarding
and then told me the difference. I quickly caught on as I watched him and his
friends run pall-mall into the surf, throw down their boards and skim the wave
as they drifted back into shore. Amazed, I commented to the first guy that I
could never be brave enough to do what they did. Without missing a beat his
friend glanced at me and said, “You just need a plan. And then you need to make
a commitment to it.” I nodded in agreement. That’s good advice for
skim-boarding, for writing, and for life.
