If Not Now, When?

By Diane Byington

Maybe you’ve longed to write a novel since you were ten, but you have no idea what to write. Or you’ve started several novels but given up after thirty or fifty pages, and you’re close to telling yourself that maybe this dream just wasn’t fated to be. 

That was my situation the day I sat in Quaker Meeting (which is a silent service) mulling over my life. Out of the blue, I heard a voice saying, “If not now, when?” The voice was so loud and strong that I looked around the room to see who’d spoken. No one had, so I realized this was a message—from the universe, God, or my inner self—that was meant only for me. The voice was telling me not to give up, but instead to get going on making my dream come true. 

I have never before nor since heard a private message of this sort. It was such a surprise that I sat up in my chair and decided to give writing fiction one more try. While I pondered where to begin, the wisp of a story came to me. 

As soon as the service was over, I went home and began writing. I’d never taken a class in creative writing and I was fifty-five years old. I had no idea what to do, but I started writing, having faith I would be able to write something that even a few people would want to read. 

I’d like to tell you the book I started that day went on to become a bestseller, but that wasn’t what happened. I worked on the novel for three years and revised it numerous times before giving up and realizing my skills weren’t strong enough to write a book of publishable quality. I ended up going back to school, to the Stanford Online Certificate Program, and starting a different book. That one became my first published novel: “Who She Is,” about a girl who has flashbacks of different parents and a different early life while she’s training for the Boston Marathon. She spends the rest of the book trying to figure out, literally, “who she is.” 

The novel was well received and won several prestigious awards. I was encouraged enough to try again. The result is my second book, “If She Had Stayed.” It’s about a woman who goes back in time to try to fix what she regards as her biggest mistake, only to find herself running for her life. 

It took eleven years of determination to get my first book published (and only two years for the second), but I’m glad I stuck with it. The joy of holding my books in my hands has made the struggle worthwhile. I love hearing from readers that my words have touched them. And I love allowing my imagination to run wild as I create a new book that, hopefully, will leave people entertained as well as challenged. 

If you’re waiting until conditions are perfect to start writing, don’t wait any longer. Conditions will never be perfect. Writing is one of those things that gets better with practice and perseverance. You can do it if you believe in yourself and keep working on your craft. 

I’m passing on the message, and if it’s meant for you, you’ll know. If not now, when?  

 —

Diane Byington has been a tenured college professor, yoga teacher, psychotherapist, and executive coach. Also, she raised goats for fiber and once took a job cooking hot dogs for a NASCAR event. She still enjoys spinning and weaving, but she hasn’t eaten a hot dog or watched a car race since.

Besides reading and writing, Diane loves to hike, kayak, and photograph sunsets. She and her husband divide their time between Boulder, Colorado, and Dunedin, Florida.

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/dianebyington

Find out more about her on her website http://www.dianebyington.com/ 

 

IF SHE HAD STAYED, Diane Byington

Sometimes the past is better left alone.

Kaley Kline is thrilled to have landed a job as director of the new Tesla Museum in Colorado Springs. To make the museum successful, she searches for undiscovered works to display. When she finds an old safe that might have been Tesla’s, she’s shocked to find some diary pages supposedly written by the inventor himself.

Kaley initially thinks either that the journal is a fraud or Tesla was experiencing a nervous breakdown when he wrote it. However, if his experiments were real, the world will never be the same. She decides to secretly build Tesla’s time machine and attempt to go back into her own life to change a decision she has always regretted.

She prepares for a trip to the past, not knowing whether she will electrocute herself or travel back to the Boulder of her sophomore year in college. But an old boyfriend might have hidden some secrets from her—secrets that could have her fighting for her life.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips