Around the Block

Connie has secretly begun writing a book about Odyssey, hoping to answer the false picture created by Rusty Gordon’s book. The first two chapters have come quickly, but she has spent nearly four weeks struggling to begin a chapter about Eugene. After fifty-seven attempts at its opening sentence, she fears she has developed writer’s block.

Eugene recommends that she work in the quiet attic at Whit’s End, away from telephones, customers, and coworkers. Connie removes a distracting clock and tries starting in the middle, but every thought leads her toward hunger, excuses, or another blank line. Her solitude is soon interrupted by Marvin, who wants a girl’s advice about Rosie, a smart new student whom the other children insult and avoid. Marvin wants to be kind but fears that Rosie will think he likes her romantically.

Connie tells Marvin that possible embarrassment must not prevent him from being a friend. She shares an experience from high school involving a boy named Larry Melwood, showing Marvin how a story from her own life can help him make a difficult choice. Once Marvin leaves, however, Connie still cannot turn that same storytelling ability into progress on her manuscript.

Eugene next prescribes mathematical discipline: four hundred words a day, five days a week, will produce a full-length book in less than a year. Connie adopts his schedule but becomes trapped by the number. Late one night, she is still in Whit’s office, torturing sentences and repeating words merely to reach the day’s quota.

Whit discovers her and learns about the book. He assures Connie that writing has never come easily to him either, despite the books and articles he has completed. At Connie’s request, he and Eugene read her troublesome chapter. Eugene produces a mountain of tiny factual corrections, while Whit praises its humor, tenderness, dialogue, and accuracy.

Whit also identifies a deeper weakness: the chapter lacks a clear plot and point. He suggests shaping each account around something Connie has learned in her Christian life, giving the book a purpose that may help its readers. Connie hears the criticism as proof that she has nothing worth publishing. Exhausted and miserable, she decides that she is not a writer and abandons the entire project.

The next day, Eugene shows Connie an online review from someone who has believed Rusty Gordon’s claims and now wants to avoid Odyssey. Connie refuses to reconsider. Then Marvin returns to thank her. He has chosen Rosie as his science partner, discovered her talent, and helped give her an opportunity to make the other students laugh with her instead of at her. He says Connie’s story about Larry guided him and calls her a good storyteller.

Marvin’s experience makes Connie realize that personal stories can help people beyond their original moment. Whit asks her to set aside the difficulty, criticism, and chances of publication and remember one thing: when she began, did she believe God wanted her to write the book? Connie admits that she did. Whit explains that a task from God is not guaranteed to be easy, but God also supplies the strength required to obey.

Connie worries that her slow progress means she is failing. Whit assures her that if God has chosen her, she is the right person for the work. As they begin to pray for fresh inspiration, Eugene rushes in with the solution to a problem that had blocked his own holograph project. His breakthrough prompts Connie to recreate the moment she first met him outside Whit’s office.

At last, Connie finds her opening. She describes Eugene’s friendly grin, the eyes barely visible behind his thick and dirty glasses, and the graphing calculator he offered instead of a handshake. Whit agrees that it is the perfect beginning, and Connie thanks God for helping her break through the wall. Her celebration lasts until she sits down to type and momentarily forgets the sentence, but the moment of frustration no longer convinces her to quit.