Finding Pink Elephants

The new scene with the ferris wheel in ‪#‎AMuseMeant‬ came together beautifully last night. Handwritten. Three pages. I knew right where I wanted it. I went to the electronic copy of my book to type it this morning -- and the passage where I wanted to enter it WAS NOT THERE.

 

I panicked, and started searching my docs for a phrase that would help me identify this chapter from the others. I laughed when I found it: "pink elephant." But I couldn't find the file with that phrase.

I didn't IMAGINE typing it. It was typed and printed out in front of me. I checked the flash drive -- other copies of the document, but no pink elephants. (And man do I make a lot of drafts!)

I had to stop looking for my pink elephant to get my son on task for the day/hour/minute, pay a bill, find a card, talk with my husband about our budget, collect air mattresses, and yes, go to the bathroom. In the last place on that list, I remembered that I had another flashdrive. Finished my business, found the other flash drive and popped it in -- Wah hoo! There was my beautiful pink elephant. 

 

In #AMuseMeant, the pink elephant symbolizes Samm's epiphany that with belief in herself, she can do anything. But with this belief comes the responsibility of not ignoring problems in her life, hoping they will go away or be solved by someone else. (Sometimes it's hard to tell a blessing from a curse in this regard, just ask my 12 year old!)

 

My larger question, worry, and concern over the next week (besides prepping for the BIG SALE and book launch May 2, of course), is in how to determine how many more pink elephant passages exist between the draft that is on the flashdrive and the one that I had stored in the cloud. If ink, paper, and time were no weights in my decision, I'd probably print out both, bamboozle a friend (or a son), and compare the drafts page by page. How I'll actually handle the situation -- well, I'll tell you when I figure it out. 

 

Until then, here's the newly designed cover for #AMuseMeant:

 

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and a hattip to the old classmate and new friend who reminded me that returning to my roots and approaching a problem in the simplest way possible CAN yield the best solution. In the meantime -- I see pink elephants that you can't stop thinking about. You're welcome!

 

Author Photo by Tori Brunson

Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer. She writes on a variety of topics: Parenting, How-To, Grammar, Women/Feminism/Equality, Book Reviews, Work in Progress and Reflections. Her books are available on Amazon and she's pursuing her dreams as a motivational and professional speaker. If you'd like to see her speak at an upcoming function, contact her through her website or Facebook page.