I'm Finished

Eeek!  Those words are scary. I am finished.

Without context, it is impossible for you to know if being finished means having accomplished something that took time or being washed up, kaput, toast.

I quite like toast. But being toast is not a good thing.

I have just finished the big edits on my new book. Tomorrow I will do some technical stuff, then post it to the publishing site and let it go.  I'll still need to support it, nurture it and worry over it, but I will no longer be able to change it.

Finished is a terrifying word. We are so used to everything being open to change, everything being in flux. The moment when we complete something is the moment we come face to face with a limit that cannot be crossed.

Of course, the book is only finished being written. Soon it can start having a life of its own, moving around the world and interacting with people in ways I might not even imagine.

And if I don't want to be finished, I just need to turn my attention to one of the projects, large and small, that I still have on the go.  I don't have to stay scared for long.

But it is Halloween week and I kind of like the fear of being finished. It makes me feel that what I was doing is so much a part of me that being finished hurts a little.  That's not a bad thing in a thought or a book.

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