The Road Not Taken

It's been an interesting week, not the least in my writing. My work in progress continues to be an uphill struggle, each word a knock-down-grudge-match affair and, while challenging, not particularly fun. Into the midst of this came another book idea, one that I made note of and put aside, but which kept pushing its way to the front of my mind and which refused to be ignored. What to do? Do I continue to labor on the work in progress, or do I go with the flow and accept the new idea that wants to be written? Would I be giving in, taking the path of least resistance, or seizing an opportunity in the moment?

I was reminded of the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 


And I... put the work in progress aside and found a blank page. Better to be writing than struggling, particularly as (I reminded myself) I'm doing this for fun. I hope that following the road less traveled by will be fun, and indeed, make all the difference. I will let you know.

A Unified Theory of Existence in Less Than 500 Words

I am a guest blogger on Olsen Jay Nelson's SF blog. Check out my post "A Unified Theory of Existence in Less Than 500 Words" about the power of imagination, and explore Olsen's blog!