Story

What’s the big idea for this quest of mine?  Why does the goal even matter?   What’s really behind the idea?  And since an idea is really just an abstract concept, then what’s the concept? 

In writing terms, concept = question.  So what’s the big question behind my lifelong aspiration to climb Mt. Hood?

Today the question is:  What if I have a body and spirit that will drive me up 5,239 vertical feet to the summit of Mt. Hood? 

The question is not do I have these things, because clearly I don’t at the moment.  But what would life be like for a person who can do that?  Does she advance through life full of confidence and strength?  Can she work a full day, be a good mom and wife, and still squeeze in a life between work and bedtime?  Is her head clear?  Does she defy the label, older woman?  Does she trust her body?  Big questions, a big concept.

Beyond the concept, in writing terms, there’s the premise.  Or what’s at stake.  What might I win or lose by meeting the version of myself who is capable of climbing Mt. Hood?  I might be disappointed that she’s still full of self-doubt.  That she’s still immobilized at the end of the day and wants to do nothing more than sit on the couch and click around on her iPhone.  I might be disappointed to meet an old forty-year-old who is still absent minded.  What might I win?  Nothing less than life and love and clarity of mind.

Six months and twenty-one days to my story’s conclusion.