I’ve wanted to see an owl in the wild since forever. I’ve told my students this and my own two children. And I keep my eyes peeled, when I’m driving or walking, looking up searching the trees for any sign of one. This fall, I found a feather in our yard that didn’t look like it belonged to any bird I had seen before. Upon further research it I thought it might belong to an owl. Then a few weeks later at dusk I saw something swoop through the trees after something my eyes couldn’t see in the darkening light. So I went out and looked and tried to find it. We even tried owl calls but our efforts weren’t successful.
Then, last weekend, I was brushing my hair and staring out the window when I saw it, something in a tree. It was an owl! “I think I see an owl,” I whisper shouted to my family, not sure if my excitement would scare it off or if I was actually seeing what I had thought I had seen.
We hurried outside with our binoculars and cameras. We watched the owl and it watched us. For the whole day it sat on that branch and sunned itself. After we returned inside, my youngest asked, “Mama, can I cross it off?” And I had to stop for a moment to think about what he had meant, cross it off? Oh! Cross it off my bucket list! And since I didn’t have a physical list, he wrote it down for me and then crossed it off.
How does it connect to writing? Well, I always think things are a metaphor for this publishing journey. Always be on the lookout for ideas or owls. Sometimes you’ll get signs that you are close. Sometimes it’s about looking out the window at the exact right time. Sometimes it’s about sending your manuscript to the right person at the right time. Sometimes you have to write something down simply to cross it off. And patience, as hard as it may be sometimes, this whole journey is one big lesson in patience and letting go of control. The only thing I have control over is the effort I put in and my writing. Keep writing; keep looking for owls, because you never know when you might happen to look out your window and spot one.
I hope you get to see your own owl someday. It’s pretty magical.
Watching each other.
