Sparkle This!

Coming back from Nationals was like coming off a seven-day adrenaline rush. It was exciting, invigorating and I came home sure this year I was going to get "the call." The first night, when the phone rang I jumped, "Is this it?" By the second night the old adage "You must submit to sell" seeped back into my brain so I opened my computer and got back to work.
I was anxious to polish my manuscript. I read page after page hoping a misplaced comma here and there was all I needed to edit. What I found was rubbish, intertwined with pieces of the story I'd pitched to the editors and agents. A few thousand useless sentences can't stop me, this is my year! I rolled up my sleeves, grabbed an extra large cup of java and set to work. And work it has been.
I've brutally cut the fat, sparkled the dull spots and jacked-up the conflict. I've read through the first three chapters so many times my hero is exhausted from fighting the same battle. I began to doubt myself, my ability to write a good novel--a sparkle worthy novel. I wondered if I was like one of those pathetic contestants on American Idol who think they can sing, while the rest of the world is covering their ears.
Muscles ached as I sat hour after hour forcing my characters to bend to my will rather than letting them tell the story. Today, exhausted after six hours of grueling editing, I closed my computer and headed to Yoga.
We had a new instructor. He emphasized our breathing and stretching and then he added something--a gem to make our practice sparkle. He said, "Don't muscle into your poses, let the stretch happen." I was contorted in a half-pigeon, my least favorite pose. My hips were screaming to be freed from the torture. Again, he reminded us to let it happen. He said, "You think you've gone as deep as you can but there is always more. Let it happen, breath, relax, let your muscles do what comes naturally. I breathed, I concentrated on relaxing and it happened. The muscles in my legs seemed to melt allowing my hips to open up dropping me further to the ground. While trying to muffle the little voice of doubt worrying about how I was going to find my way out of the pose, I thought about my book.
I'd left my heroine in a precarious situation. I saw her suspended from a tree wondering when I would return and get her out of her predicament. The instructor’s words echoed in my head. "Let it happen."
As I stretched and breathed I let my mind take the journey. My hero appeared right on cue and saved the day. I could feel myself feeling anxious about getting home to write the scene before it slipped to the abyss of "pure genius scenes" never to be seen again. But true to his character, my hero gave me the okay signal and I knew he would return when I needed him.
Driving home from class, I thought about how we sometimes try to muscle our way through adding and deleting scenes, Page after page, we cut, paste, and add until tension builds and our minds are blocked. Sometimes we need to relax, breath and let our imaginations stretch, we need to trust our creativity and let our characters do what comes naturally. I think we’ll find we can go deeper and sparkle brighter.