Chapter Three - Part Two - Having a Good Hoe

Who knew the importance of having a good hoe? It has to be weighty, but not too heavy. It has to be sharp. The handle has to be well-cared for, to prevent splinters. In order to separate the rocks from the clods one needs the right tool, and that is a good hoe. And, you have to be unafraid to really use it. No timid poking around is really going to do the job. Eventually you have to let its sharp weight fall on the subject clod to break it up or move it aside to be tossed out.

This is my weekly horoscope from Rob Brezny (Free Will Astrology), my favorite astrologer: VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Great Wall of China is the largest human construction in the world, stretching for almost 3,900 miles. But contrary to legend, it is not visible from the moon. According to most astronauts, the Wall isn't even visible from low Earth orbit. Keep this in mind as you carry out your assignment in the coming week, Virgo. First, imagine that your biggest obstacle is the size of the Great Wall of China. Second, imagine yourself soaring so high above it, so thoroughly beyond it, that it disappears. If performed regularly, I think this exercise will give you a new power to deal with your own personal Great Wall of China.

Maybe the fact that I figure what I need is a hoe of great proportions to deal with this clod is wrong? Maybe I need some new perspective about screenwriting, that I've never had or never paid attention to before. I need to see beyond the statistics, and somehow get at where this endeavor really belongs.

Rising above the dismal, impersonal statistics, and above the desire to write the thing that changes and deepens the way others think and feel about the world, I'm wondering what to look at. Those are pretty general and broad and feel nearly impossible in their challenge. Like the Great Wall of China from down on the ground, they seem to go on in either direction for as far as I can see. I'm not high enough, am I? I can tell because I'm giving the impossible a lot more weight than I'm giving my hoe.

Sigh. How am I going to get far enough above these fears to make them smaller and less important so that I can make a wise choice in view of the wide world rather than just the fear?