When I was last in Europe we decided to get the Eurostar, from London, through the Chunnel, to Paris Disneyland. Not exactly as fast as the Japanese bullet trains, but faster than anything we have in this country.
You are hurtling along at up to 160 kph, though it feels a lot faster, and then you begin to brake, and it seems like nothing is happening, except for some outside friction noise, and the speed dropping.
I feel like that now, on my way to the bottom of the abyss.
At the end of that fall, it is something referred to as hitting rock bottom.
I'm told once you hit rock bottom the only way is up.
The question is, who do you know that has fallen into the abyss and come back to tell you about it?
Put into layman's terms, hurling down the abyss is like having a severe episode of depression. There are different types, some worse than others. Hitting the ground is roughly the equivalent of looking for a way out that eases the pain and not finding one, and that, for some people, is a quite drastic answer.
But the sign that the free fall is braking, like the express train slowing down, is a sign that you've seen the light, that there are external forces that can render assistance.
I see them now, the hands of friends, the hands of people I don't know, but who are concerned.
Writers like any other professional people are the same as everyone else, but with one rather interesting difference. It is a profession where a lot of the time you are on your own, alone with your thoughts, your characters, your fantasy world, which sometimes so frighteningly drifts into your reality.
Some of us will make a fortune, some of us will make an adequate living, and live the 'dream' of doing the one job they always wanted to, and most will not.
I'm not rich, I'm not one who gets an adequate income, yet.
But I will get out of this abyss.
I can feel the brakes.
My eldest granddaughter, who is 15, tells me the fantasy story where she is a princess I'm writing for her is brilliant.
The free fall has stopped. I step out into the sunshine.
All I needed was a little praise.
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