Lists are my favorite. (And now I sound like Buddy the Elf.)
They are literally the only way I can keep myself on track to get things done. I’m one of those people who will write something on a list after I’ve already done it just to check it off. What a feeling of accomplishment!
So when I made this list of 10 things, I thought of it like other lists, but as I’ve started to plan out how I’m going to accomplish things, I realize that it’s not going to behave like a shopping list or a to-do list.
Because it’s not necessarily linear. Some of the activities on my list are going to overlap, and I might tell you about the next thing on the list but not complete it right away because it takes time. You might read about multiple activities on the list not necessarily in any kind of order. I’ll try to make it clear when I actually check something off the list.
Clear as mud? Lol.
What’s next?
Now that I’ve worn a two-piece in public, what’s next?
I’ve got several ideas, thus the ramblings about how this won’t be a typical list. The one I want to start telling you about this week is my fiction writing.
My professional writing training is as a journalist and because of that, I have an inclination toward non-fiction writing—the kind of thing I’m doing now. Blog posts, interviews, magazine articles, essays. It comes easily to me. Even the sermons I’ve preached are like non-fiction writing for me because I write out everything I want to say.
But, I’ve been writing fiction off and on for probably 35 years. I just love stories. Reading them, making them up in my head, writing them down. I’ll make up stories about people I see when I’m just sitting and waiting somewhere. Maybe waiting is a gateway to creativity? I don’t know. Anyway, before computers were readily available to the average household, I would fill regular lined notebooks with stories and thrust them into the hands of anyone who came to our house.
Read it, I would say, while hoping they would tell me it was brilliant. I had a need to not only be accepted but to be validated. (Confession: I still have that need most days.)
Is it worth it?
All this time I spend on stories, is it worth it?
I wondered it then and I wonder it now. I’ve gotten paid for my non-fiction writing, which means I often prioritize that over fiction writing because fiction writing hasn’t “paid off” yet. (Nor will it if I don’t try.)
This is probably why I have trouble finishing the novel-length stories I have on my computer now. There are three and I always say they are in various states of “done.” One is technically finished but I know I need to revise some things and do some more research. One I’ve been more actively working on in the past few years (yes, YEARS) but I keep doubling back and changing things. And I don’t give it the attention it deserves because we’re in a place in our lives where we need me to make some income, so I abandon the work-in-progress (WIP) for paid work that I’m often less passionate about.
The End is near
In the last year or so, I’ve talked more about my work, specifically the fiction I’m writing, and people are excited about my stories, even when my efforts to explain them are awkward.
So, I’m vowing to finally finish the one I’ve been working on most recently. I’m going to write “The End” before next summer.
To keep myself on track, I’ve scheduled some online writing sessions with other writers in a group I belong to. I went to my first one last week and it’s amazing to me how motivating it can be just to see and talk with other creative people and know that you’re not the only oddball whose head is full of characters and plots. It was a 90-minute writing session, and it was just the thing I needed to get myself back into my story. I find I work better on it and get more excited about it when I can get into it regularly.
Don’t worry, I’ll share
Another way I’m going to keep myself going is to share some excerpts of what I’m writing. This is something else I’ve been trying to do more of. For some reason, sharing my fiction is harder than sharing even the most personal blog post because then you’ll be able to see what’s going on inside my head. Gasp! (Most writers I’ve been around feel this way, so I know I’m not alone in this.)
Over the next several weeks, I’ll share some scenes from my novel in these email blasts. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll get some longer excerpts, but don’t worry, even if you’re on the free plan (I love you whether you’re a free subscriber or paid), you’ll get a decent chunk of my writing.
In the meantime, thank you for your support and if you have a friend you think would like the content I’m putting out there, please pass this along to them.
There are some bonuses if you refer multiple people to this site using the link below.
Enough with the business! See you next time!
I KNOW you can do this, my friend! Excited to read it when it's complete!