Today’s challenge is for me to start. Not just start, but start ugly.

Babies are so cute, you’d almost think they were made from unicorns and kittens. Maybe they are. I never saw The Film in fifth grade.

One thing I do know, babies sure know how to start ugly. Take eating, for example. Spaghetti with sauce. Need I say more? Or, how about coloring? That blue blob does have a striking resemblance to daddy. Learning how to write their own name. There are days I wonder if I ever did.

In all of these and more, we started ugly, took a look at the glorious mess we made, and tried again. Gradually, our tries got better and better.

I used to have spaghetti and sauce all over my face, clothes, table, wall. But now I can eat it without making a mess. I used to wear that green crayon down to a nub drawing the blob I called a tree. Now my drawings of trees actually look like trees. The scribblings that were my name, well… Let’s just call my signature an ongoing work in progress.

Writing for me is the same. I still start out with gobs of ugly text. But I refine and polish. I am slowly getting better. Three tries at trying to write a novel have shown me three ways it shouldn’t be done. I will try a different way come November, and learn more lessons as a result. I only need to start.