Note: Every now and then I try to write an accountability post, because nobody is making me write other than myself. Sometimes, by saying it out loud, even over the Internet, is the only way to get me to DO THE THING. This is one of those posts. Sorry.
It’s been a frenzied few months here at Stephenson Towers, what with moving across the country and starting a new job, getting the kids settled, all that jazz. It’s probably understandable, then, that the writing has slipped several steps down the priority list. I didn’t mean it to; it’s just the way of things.
Except, by letting it slip, I realised something. I really can’t afford to let it. If I’m truly honest with myself, this is really the only thing I want to do with my life, and at some point I want to be able to do it professionally. Not today. Not even tomorrow. But someday.
I might have left that realisation too late in my life — it would have been a lot better if I’d realised this in my early twenties, for example, rather than realising that going out with friends and spending the entire time trashed is mega. But I can’t change that. Now that I’ve spent three years throwing myself at this writing malarkey full pitch, I’ve realised that it’s really the only thing that’s an option for me in the long run, even if I’ve got a perfectly good little career going.
As Sufjan Stevens said:
It’s a long life, better pinch yourself,
Put your face together, better get it right
So, break time is over. NaNoWriMo is only a week away, and beyond that I’ve been reassessing things. No more taking whole weeks off, no more fallow days. Starting next week there’s a daily word count once more.
The one thing that I have been better at recently has been this blog, and I’m thankful for that. I also have a weekly newsletter that’s been going out like clockwork (you can sign up here, and you’ll get a free copy of Blood on the Motorway, if you haven’t already read that) and I’ve been trying to get in the habit of posting chapters over at Wattpad every week. Oh, and I want to post over on my Patreon every week, but that’s not been going so well, mainly because by that point in the week I’ve generally run out of things to say.
So I’m going to try and get into more of a weekly routine, as follows:
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Monday – New blog post
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Tuesday – Weekly newsletter
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Wednesday – New chapter on Wattpad
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Thursday – New patreon update (more on that soon)
Add all that onto at least 1500 words a day, and I’m asking a lot of myself. Maybe too much. Certainly, with everything else going on around me, and no dedicated place to write, its very possible that the above is an early ticket to a heart attack. But I’ll never know, unless I try.
And hey, if you want to support me DOING THE THING then you can always buy a book, join the mailing list, or stop by the Patreon page and pledge a monthly donation.
