Transitions - A part of life

by Fran McNabb

My eight-year-old grandson said something this past weekend that made me think. He plays baseball and next year he’ll be transitioning to a league where he’ll be with older kids. He is already worrying that the older boys will be much more experienced and will play better than he does, but as he talked, he immediately started going through reasons why he would be okay. He realizes he's a big boy for his age so he won’t look smaller, and he knows he has learned so much this year that he is really good at the sport and will even be on the All-Stars this summer.

He was doing what we all do when we find ourselves having to move into a new situation. It might be starting a new job, moving to a new area of the country, marrying someone and starting a new life, or maybe trying something new with what we already know and do.

As writers we sometimes have to move away from what we feel comfortable writing. Maybe our genre isn’t as popular as it once was, maybe our publisher is dropping a line, or maybe we need to find a new area to keep our enthusiasm high.

If we find ourselves facing a new situation, we do what my grandson did today. We find the good in what we have to offer. It’s simply human nature to do that. We build our confidence up so that we can face our new situation with our heads held high, even knowing that there is always the possibility to fail—or maybe “fail” is too strong a word. When we move into a new situation, we do know there is no guarantee that it will be the right move. But that’s part of life. Sometimes we have to try new things to come up with what we want to do.

Maybe next season my grandson might decide he doesn’t want to play baseball anymore, but unless he tries playing with an older group, he’ll never know what his capabilities are. This summer as he makes that scary transition into his new area, I hope he understands he’ll be transitioning into new situations for most of his life. They might not be easy, but they are a necessary part of growing.

If my fellow writers are going through a transition with their writing, I hope the process will be easy and successful. Sometimes change is just what we need to keep the creative juices flowing.

FRAN MCNABB writes sweet romance and has nine published novels at present. She lives along the Gulf Coast with her husband and uses this setting in many of her books. Besides writing, she loves painting, boating, and reading. Visit her at www.FranMcNabb.com or at mcnabbf@bellsouth.net.