Eating the Elephant

   Many years ago while feeling overwhelmed by college classes, working full time, plus trying to raise a family, a good friend asked me a question. He asked me, "How do you eat an elephant?" I replied, "I don't know." He said, "One bite at a time." Granted, that's humorous, but it really helped me. It still does. When I feel overwhelmed, I realize that I'm looking at that big old elephant, and he's glaring at me. You may wonder, "How the heck am I gonna eat that whole stinking elephant by myself?" The same way: one bite at a time. Instead of looking at the whole "elephant," look at one thing at a time. Keep your eyes on one part of a project at a time. The next thing you know, you'll be looking for a toothpick, saying, "Dang, that was one good elephant! I can't believe I ate that whole thing by myself!" It may take time. The story I'm working on now, I originally wrote 11 years ago. It was the same year as the terrorist atatcks in September. A lot has happened in those 11 years. I've made countless changes, additions, deletions and corrections to the story. It's an historical novel, and I originally wrote it without enough research. Had I submitted it 11 years ago, I would've looked really ignorant and foolish. I believe the story is remarkably better now. Is it perfect? Of course not. But with one bite at a time over 11 years, I'm just about done with this particular elephant. Pretty soon, I'll be looking for my toothpick and wondering what's for dessert.
  Thanks for taking the time to read this.