Crossroads

One of my best friends is an epically amazing blues guitarist. He introduced me to Robert Johnson (among other legends), for which I am eternally grateful. Somehow whenever I come to a decision point in my life, I find myself listening to Robert Johnson's Crossroads and trying to find my answer in the slides.



I haven't been blogging much lately. Haven't really known what to say. Because I'm not quite at the crossroads yet. I feel like I'm at that point where you look ahead of you and see the crossroads, but you aren't there yet. You know you will be making this vast, exciting decisions you will want to tell everyone about, but since you can't make the decision yet, you're in that waiting pattern.

I hate waiting.

My dad has this saying about decisions (I'm going to totally mangle it, I know). He says being decisive doesn't mean you make decisions quickly, it means you make them when they need to be made - not so early you don't have all the info, but early enough that you have time to implement them. Or something like that.

So what do you do when you know it's too early to decide, but all you want to do is get there? Get ahead to that next road, be past the dang fork and onto your next leg of the journey? (Yes, the metaphor is getting a bit tired, but work with me, people.)

I need a shot of focus to keep me working steadily on the path I'm on so I can get to the crossroads. Gotta finish this book before I can start the next one. That's what being a writer is. Follow-through. Bright ideas are great and all, but hours at the computer is what gets it done. Time to buckle down. Head down. Don't look ahead. Nothing to see, folks. No crossroads ahead. No shiny book idea on the horizon itching to take me away in a new direction. Nope. Just the page in front of me. Blank as always, looking to be filled up.

Tunnel vision is a good thing, right? Not to be distracted by questions like should I buy a house? Should I get a dog? Should I travel some more? Nope. Time to be in the here and now. Why is that so damn hard some days?