Forks of Opportunity

By Nichole Giles
Every once in a while, you get to one of life’s roadblocks—wait, no, let’s not call them roadblocks. Let’s call them…roads of opportunity. Yes, so you’re standing at a fork in the road of opportunity. And both roads look good from your viewpoint. They both have some rough-looking spots, but also some smooth paving that’s appealing. And no matter how hard you look, you can’t see the end in either direction.

And as you stand there, you meet other people, some who take one road, and some who take the other—and all seem to be happy with their decision. It shouldn’t be such a tough choice. Yet, you keep standing, waiting, hoping that somehow the selection will be made for you—or taken from you—anything to avoid making the wrong decision on your own. How do you know which road to take? (And no, the answer is not the road less traveled, because they’re both equally traversed in my vision.)

This issue sometimes comes up as we go through the process of both writing and submitting. Right now I find myself in one of these places. Both roads look equally appealing for different reasons, and I know both choices are good, but I’m struggling to decide which one’s right for me. The road on my right hand is looking more and more appealing each day, but I can’t decide if I feel that way because it’s what I want or because it’s really the right thing to do. And what if…

Well, see, now that’s where being a writer stops me short. I could play the what-if game for days—no weeks—or even months. And people, I don’t know how long I have to choose. (But that might be just me feeling rushed.)

The other day, I mentioned my dilemma to a group of friends. That’s when Josh said something about his own fork in the road, and his words made me think. He said, “Well, I suppose there’s no way of knowing the right decision right now. I guess I’ll have to pray really hard for the answer.”

Here’s the funny thing. My first thought was, well, I hope the guy upstairs posts a billboard—cuz I’ve been doing that and still have no clue what to do. But then it occurred to me that maybe I’ve been asking the wrong questions. Have I really been asking for help in making the right decision? Or have I been begging to have the decision made for me?
My bad. I should know better than that.

Here’s the truth. Writing as a profession is an exercise in extreme faith. Most of us will never have success and fortune handed to us—we’ll have to work our tails off for it. But we can have it if we’re only willing to put forth the effort. And when we come upon a fork, sometimes the best thing to do is to close our eyes, spin in a circle, and walk forward with renewed faith that a higher power is leading us in the right direction.