Rebecca Thomas | Just Keep Swimming

I’m an okay swimmer. I couldn’t even say I’m a good swimmer, but for whatever reason I use metaphors in regards to swimming and writing all the time. I have a quote on my computer I read every day. It says “Just keep swimming.” ~Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) in Finding Nemo.

There are so many things I love about Finding Nemo. Heck, I loved the character of Dory so much I named one of my dogs after her, but for me, the “just keep swimming” quote means, as you can probably guess, just keep writing.

Whatever your method to get words on the page, to get the story written, it’s different for everyone. I’ve read that authors equate writing a story to pushing a boulder up the side of a mountain. That certainly works, but for me it’s always been swimming. Maybe it’s because when I was twelve-years-old, and on an overnight trail ride with my 4-H group, I nearly drowned swimming across a river.

In college, I wanted to conquer my fear of water, so I signed up to take a swimming class. The instructor had us go the distance of the pool underwater. I could never last as long as my classmates. I could never get to the other side without taking a breath of air. One day, I was so determined to stay underwater and hold my breath for the entire distance, but again, I failed. I became that twelve-year-old girl again and only saw the other side of the riverbank knowing I wasn’t going to make it across, knowing I was going to drown. I got out of the pool and cried. My instructor was so kind. She said it was okay and not to worry. If I couldn’t make the distance without taking a breath it was all right.

I finally believed her. If I couldn’t make the distance underwater without taking a breath, it was okay, it wasn’t the end of the world. My classmates could do it without taking a breath, I couldn’t, but I still made it to the other side. I was still swimming. The water didn’t defeat me. I didn’t drown. I could swim.

I admire those writers who can push through writing an entire book in what seems like amazing speed without even taking a breath. Or, at least to me, it looks like they aren’t even taking a breath. They release book after book and are so prolific, it amazes me.

I’ve finally come to peace with the fact that that isn’t me. I can’t write that fast, I can’t hold my breath that long, but I can swim, I can write, and I can make it to the other side.

Releasing HER ALASKAN HERO was a huge accomplishment for me, but in my mind I haven’t made it to the other side yet. I’m still swimming. Instead of a river crossing, I’m swimming an ocean channel. I have four books and a novella in the Alaskan Hero series planned. I have one book and one novella completed, so I figure I’m a little over a fourth of the way to my destination. I may need to take a breath or float for a while at times, or may even have one of my critique partners paddle out and throw me a life preserver, but I will make it to the other side.

I hope whatever your writing endeavors; that you remember to just keep writing. You may not be the best, or the fastest, but you can swim. You won’t drown. You can do it. Just keep swimming.

About Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas enjoys a love-hate relationship with Alaska. She lives there with her bush pilot husband and two teenaged sons where she appreciates all the unique things the last frontier has to offer. When she isn’t reading, writing, or playing board games, she is cheering for her sons at their hockey games and tennis matches.

A reluctant reader as a child, she didn’t become interested in books until her teen years when she discovered historical romance. Now she loves all sub-genres of romance and can’t decide which one is her favorite. Rebecca earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Alaska and was employed in the airline industry for several years before working in her current position as a program manager in higher education.

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About HER ALASKAN HERO

After being left at the altar, California girl Sabrina Tate needs to make a fast getaway. With her famous overbearing parents and the paparazzi hot on her heels, where else is a jilted bride to go to lick her wounds but Alaska? With only her tropical honeymoon clothes in tow, she makes her escape. For two weeks, she’ll live on her own and prove to herself—and her family— that she can make it without a husband.

Zak Forrester is a man on a mission. He’s turned his rugged yet luxurious Alaskan lodge into a hotspot for hunters, all in the hope to make up for a painful event in his past. But when Sabrina— one of the rare women to enter his rugged realm—stumbles into his world, he can’t get rid of her fast enough. He has no time for her yoga, vegetarian meal requests, or Scrabble.

Soon, neither can resist the other, and two hearts collide. With time ticking away, they have to decide where they belong. Is a life in a different world better than being a world apart?