The Long Way

Shabbat Shalom - Parsha Beshalach - 1.30,26

Today, I started working on my sixth book. (Cue cheering!) After nearly a year off from writing, I am once again delving into a new story. I am creating characters and complications, driving the romance and the subplot, plotting out all those fun twists and turns. This morning, while lying in bed, I was unexpectedly visited by a zany secondary character—and immediately started laughing.

I’m surprised by how easy it was to come back to writing. I’m surprised by how quickly my novelist brain returned, and I was able to find words, and laying out the plot, and have my sleep interrupted by demanding characters. Because if I’m being honest, and until I actually sat down to begin working on this book, I was deeply anxious about returning to writing. I worried that taking time off—taking the long way to writing book six—might have irrevocably dulled something necessary and essential to my creativity.

This week’s Torah portion, Beshalach, returns us back to the book of Exodus. For those of you who have seen the Charleston Heston film, this portion will feel familiar.

The Children of Israel are actively pursuing their freedom when Pharoah changes his mind and sends Egyptian soldiers to bring them back to Egypt. Cue parted waters, the Israelites escaping, and the Egyptian pursuers hurled into the sea.

Yet, despite all these big movie-worthy moments, and miracles, it is a line at that start of the portion that grab my attention this week: “Now when Pharoah let the people go, he did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer… So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds.”

In other words, God does not take the Israelites through the shortest and quickest route out of Egypt. Instead, He chooses the long way.

I took a year off from writing because I needed to build Jewish Joy. But also, I needed to let my mind rest, and to focus on my health, and to heal from the things I had experienced as a Jewish branded author in traditional publishing. And yes, I had to decide if I wanted to continue writing.

But this week, Beshalach teaches me something important. Sometimes, the most important part of a journey isn’t the destination. It’s knowing what you need when you enter the wilderness.

The year I took off from writing wasn’t a failure, or an unnecessary detour. It was a long walk filled with valuable learning. And growth. And so, SO much good, that my heart aches at the thought of all the people we have, and will be helping in the years to come.

And now, here I am—back at the page. Back to creating characters, and complications, and kissing scenes. Back to joy, and sweetness, and a story so tender it might rot your teeth. Not because I forced myself onto the shorter path. But because I finally let myself take the long one.

Shabbat Shalom