The Corn Maze of Writing

I've been to a couple of corn mazes here and there. No matter where I go, it all starts and ends the same way. First, I pick my first path. Should I go on the path towards the right? Or maybe I should go down the path straight infront of me? After getting advice from my friends and family who have come along for the adventure, I decide the right looks more promising. Why? I'm not really sure. Despite this, I enter the maze with fake confidence as my group follows behind not really paying attention to where I am going. As I travel further and further past the walls of corn, I realize that I need help. I could stumble along taking random turns and hoping that the outcome will turn out to be advantageous. I could even decide to take a little trip through the corn and hope that nobody notices me, but this would be cheating, and I'm not that kind of girl! I turn and ask my fellow lost buddies for help. We retrace my steps and come up with different and better ways to go. All of a sudden, I reach another dead end. I don't know where to go! I turn around and go a different way. As I walk more and more, I feel as if I am almost to where I need to be, but then....dead end! Once again, I enlist in my support for more advice. THEN....I can feel the end coming near. The opening in the corn grows larger, and I see the end of the maze. I am finished. I am relieved, but even better, I am ecstatic. I did it! Even though I'm extremely happy to have made it through, part of me wants to try it all over again....

I guess one could say that a corn maze is like writing. At first, you may be unsure of what to write about, but you can take your first steps once talking with peers or friends about ideas of topics and stories. Then, it almost seems easy, as words flow onto the page...or as you think you know which way to go in the maze. All of a sudden, you hit a dead end and don't know where to go. This is NOT the part where you cheat and plagiarize (cut through the corn).This is the part where you ask others for advice, and just like with the maze, they look over everything you have already done and suggest new and potentially better ideas. Once you are finished, that feeling of relief and happiness rushes in, but along with it comes the feeling of "let's do it again!" In both cases, with writing and going through a corn maze, the journey is difficult and sometimes requires a step back or advice from some friends. During the maze/writing, the feeling of giving up often sets in, but for the most part, you know that you want to finish--show that you can do it. The best part, though, is when it is all done, and you know you accomplished something worthwhile--even if others don't realize the greatness of your work.