Committing to Forget

Becky Minor used this phrase in a recent post and voiced exactly what I've been trying to do with Dangling Justice.

I conceived Dangling Justice in college. I illustrated at least three scenes from what I imagined the plot would be. I'm talking multimedia pen and ink, colored pencil and marker illustrations. Those puppies took time and they solidified my imagination.

I keep bumping into those illustrations. Oh, no, I can't do that, because then they wouldn't end up here doing this thing I drew. Oh, no, she can't look like that because she looks like this. Oh, no, he does it this way in the picture.

None of these issues should stop me. None of these issues are actual issues. They were ideas I had way back when and I have different ideas now.

I've had the same trouble with Past Ties, so much trouble, in fact, I've almost decided that book will never be revised/updated/published. It was a campy first effort at writing a book, but I wrote it and it remains.

I must commit to forget what I planned twenty years ago. Had I written it then, it would be different, but I didn't and it isn't. The story must move forward, not stall out at now-useless images from my once-fertile imagination, no matter how beautifully proportioned.

Happy Monday, dear readers. If your past holds you back, first forgive, then commit to forget.