THIS’LL NEVER WORK

This phrase haunts me!

Some days, I think that writing a book is completely do-able. Other days that phrase is like the soundtrack to my day. Ugh! But today I read a blog by another writer, Jeff Goins,  talking about this phrase and it really encouraged me. You can check out the whole post here.  But this really helped me think about things differently.

For years, I believed the “this’ll never work” paradigm. As a result, I never acted, never put myself out there and took a risk.

But then one day, I stopped. Stopped believing the lies. Stopped saying “no” for other people. And I started believing I could be a writer. Not because people were reading my words or because I was any good (I wasn’t), but because I had to believe in myself before anyone else would.

It seems so ridiculously simple.  To believe in yourself and be able to accomplish your goals by just believing, you are what you set out to be.  But sometimes that is all it takes!  So tonight I will sit and be a writer.  I will be a writer and write.  I also decided that I want to just write Enigma, totally and completely because I am a writer.  Not so that I will get success or to sell lots of books, but because, I need to write Enigma.  If I write this story and no one likes it, I will die satisfied that I told my story.  I will have succeeded.

This is extremely freeing.  To be able to write my story with no expectations.  It does not keep me from wanting to do it excellently!  So I will sit with my Plot & Structure book by James Scott Bell and work at it.

I will take it one step at a time, build my characters, build my world and enjoy it.  I told my kids once, during a home school lesson that overwhelmed them, that they needed to look at it like eating an elephant.  You do it one bite at a time.  They were mortified!  I had a great discussion with them about what that meant and it helped them realize that they needed to just take it a step at a time.  They would eventually get the job done.  They did request that instead of an elephant as the example of that analogy that we make it something food related.  So now when something seems too big for them to tackle I remind them ” How does one eat a elephant sized meatball?”  Haha!  It’s silly but it works!

Sweet elephant we saw on our last WDW trip! #WDWlover

ENIGMA UPDATE:

I have chapter one finished and the character backgrounds done.  I have been working on the lore and background of my baddie, Korina.  Working through the Plot and Structure book so I can begin with a good foundation.  I have been reading through another authors novel and sending her feedback.  This has been ridiculously helpful.  To see how other authors work, has really made my wheels turn.  Really gets the creative juices flowing to see someone else’s story being worked on.  It is completely different from my story, so there is no conflict there.  I am really enjoying this process and feel blessed that another author has let me into their world before everyone else.  Be on the lookout for the wonderful novel from Morgan Wylie which should be out this year.  IT IS FABULOUS!

Any tips on how to keep focused on just writing your story and not letting doubt sneak in.  ANY tips would be helpful!

Thanks for listening,