OUTWITTING PLAN B, by Mollie Hunt

                                                                                                

I recently heard an interesting bit of wisdom from an unexpected source. The source was actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Longmire) in an interview at a comic-con, The wisdom was:

            When you are working toward a purpose, don’t have a Plan B.

This really struck a chord with me, the idea that we often defeat our own purposes by giving ourselves an easy way out.

Pursuing any goal is bound to be fraught with roadblocks, but if we see these as reason to quit or even delay, we lose our momentum and may never make it to where we want to be.

     The falling bird must fly.

     The feral cat must hunt.

     “Do or do not; there is no try.”  — Yoda

In other words,  if you really want something, the best route to take is straight ahead, through all the difficulties and disappointments, as if your life depends on it. Okay, I can do that.

In a way, I feel like that’s what I did when I quit my job to concentrate on writing. There was no plan B, and for several months, no income either. Thankfully I have a supportive husband who covers little details such as the mortgage and food, but this wasn’t about money anyway. If I wanted a comfortable income, I could have stayed in that life-sucking job. I had already written several books working around the full time hours. I had given readings and attended events, skipping work when necessary. But it wasn’t enough. It was a compromise, with dullness weighing heavily against the flight of the soul.

I have never regretted my decision, and now all my days are centered around my writing. I have picked up a few part-time jobs I enjoy such as cat sitting. I have stopped wanting to buy things I don’t need (and thinking I need things I don’t). Though I have a long way to go to support myself by my books, that doesn’t even come into play. After sixty-some years of life, I finally feel like a whole happy flawed alive person.

My Plan A is to write like hell, pursue every opportunity that comes, and drop the rest in God’s lap. It’s working for me; will it work for you?

Katee Sackhoff

  

PS: Katee is from Portland. I’m so proud!

About Mollie Hunt: 

Mollie is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, featuring Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip. Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, and the Cat Writers’ Association. This year she won a CWA Muse Medallion for her 3-part blogpost series, “Life Stages”. Like Lynley, Mollie is a grateful shelter volunteer. 

You can find Mollie on her Website: http://www.lecatts.wordpress.com/, her Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt, and her Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/. Sign up for her Extremely Informal Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/c0fOTn.