An insightful look on how important to be influential at certain stages of your life should be assessed whenever possible to gauge progress. With this observation come discernable choices made to elicit changes for the better. I've come to believe that there are two distinct entities in life that affects measures of place. In order for us as individuals to wrought vestiges of success, we must first find out who we are to have a better chance at achieving. In doing so, we must exact timing to be effective in validating the choices made for effectiveness. Where are you in life’s circle of influence? What are your talents, and what gifts do you have to share in making someone else’s life better? Do you do it through your writing? I opine these points with a few truisms that have been part of my mantra for as long as I can remember. It's no coincidence that fate and circumstances has a lot to do with dispositional posture. We stand more often than not unprepared to deal with circumstance without tacit commitment. I surmise that we are not cognizant of when it’s time to reinvent and diversify if we’re not prepared to challenge status quo. We must do a better job of being committed to spiritual value. We minimize the faulty choices we've made in life, not readily realizing that when and where we enter has more to do with timing! That timing coincides with letting the ink flow.

It's your time when you finally stop to purpose in your mind that chance is opportunity waiting to happen. We are whom we purport to be based on discernable options and being in place to move. It is those options that will define the course we take, and lament on the road not taken should adversity raise its ugly head. The purpose of this homily is to allow for (your) chance to be good options to make life better, and to be recipients of effective timing for leveraged advantages. Make good choices and be positioned to reap the benefits is what I say! There’s several levels of success, real or imagined based on timing and chance. It’s a timely investment when all that you’ve done up to a certain point has rewarded you with triumphs here and there, inching you along toward The Goal. You may be that aspiring writer doing what is prescribed for you to do in getting published for the first time; or that writer who has made it to the next echelon of achievement with having not one, but multiple books already on bookshelves; and then there’s that freelance writer, that versatile scribe who flexes his literary muse to diversity to write on command. What price success? Are we so ingrained with gratitude that we can’t stop to take a deep breath, sigh for relief, and pay homage to the chance of a lifetime? We have gotten this far for a reason. We’ve persevered, endeavored to learn the craft, have studied the industry, identified our audiences, and now we’re ready to arm ourselves against the usual nuances in this bottom-line business.

As accomplished writers and seekers of promise much greater than pretense, we strive for the privileges afforded us from hard work and persevering resolve. But the question for me is – Am I too complacent that I can’t continue to listen for His voice? When God whispers your name you would WANT to heed the call. I surmise that as you read this article, you’ve from one time or another adhered to being called to do what you do best, be it writing or anything else you claim for proficiency. And as you’ve progressed, you may have said to yourself “amid the fleeting promises of pleasure is the timeless promise of His presence”. If you acquiesce to this, then we truly are on the same page. You are at this place and time in your life for a reason. You’ve perfected in your mind that writing is much more than a pastime, and that the elixir that sweetens the deal is soothing to your idea of timeliness. Chances are, you will far exceed because abandoning the dream would be akin to writing an unwanted end to what could be achieved in literary lore.

If I were to ask the question, how do you keep the ink flowing to satisfy the muse within you, I’d imagine getting quite a few different aspects of how timely it is to chance being committed. I answered my own query with emotions that may be shared by you at some point. Observations on certain aspects of my writing life are rife with inspired thirst in articulating my views for publication. The ink flowing from the psychological pen in my mind is legible and visible. There’s not a day that goes by that I fail to ‘write it down’. Writing it down is just the natural inclination in me to savor every thought worthy enough to savor from mind to paper. Thus, the pad that I keep within reach, especially mentally, more often than not invariably won’t be a vain attempt at procrastinated penmanship. As an author, am I always supposed to have writings created on the fly positioned to proliferate from the tip of my pen? Shouldn’t my fingers automatically find the home row keys across the keyboard any time I sit in front of the computer? I resoundingly say ‘YES’! to both observed inclinations.

There are, and have been times when the words didn’t materialized instantaneously, or I found myself juxtaposed between imagery and realism just to admit reluctantly that writer’s block can happen to the best of us. I’m okay with that. Some days are more productive than others, and there will be times of ennui and blasé routine. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a freelancer and don’t have problems finding writing projects. My research analytical duties and penchant for grant writing gives me ample opportunities to forage for ideas, and be in position to accept assignments. I do my best work when my back is against the wall, or when one of my editors calls with an assignment that’s due yesterday! But I like the lifestyle of ink flowing from my pen when adrenalin is heightened and anticipation is rushing to meld with great expectations. I move with moderate and deliberate speed, creating my own Karma where cruise control is the only option for that type of contentment.

My ‘To Be Read’ pile is getting higher and higher at the expense of the review copies and advanced reading copies that garner priority. I don’t allow time to dictate or commandeer when and where I write. But I do adhere to that ever-present still small voice that loves to whisper vociferously enough into my ear for clarity, control, and charisma. God is like that. I can’t write anything but what He feels necessary for me anyway. Like most writers I get excited when I know I’m onto something. There’s a tendency to overwrite and you find yourself with so many rewrites that stifles creative flow…but not the ink! I know that what works for me is finding adequate spacing and not become exasperated when anxiety renders me with too many directives and not enough of anything to carry on.

Are rules meant to be broken? It is said that the craft of writing has so many rules…rules that have defined some, and some that have defeated others. Is the finished essay, poem, or narrative any less discernable if each concerted effort doesn’t end with what my readers expect out of me? It just may be the fodder needed to light that proverbial fire under me for continuity to be more than status quo. The writing life is quirky like this and I wouldn’t trade any of it. Timing is everything, and chance can be now. You are where you need to be as long as you allow opportunistic options determine your effectiveness. I rely on God’s favored hand to guide me and keep the ink flowing – literally. Let’s hope you can do the same!