Tag Archives: writing

Here’s To The Dreamers

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“Do not go gentle into that good night…”

Some time in between facing a challenging time at my paythebills job, watching episodes of the Korean drama, “Shut Up and Let’s Go,” and reading Inheritance, I had one of those moments, an epiphany I guess, about my long term goals and what I really wanted out of my life, and why I’ve been struggling recently to do anything about them even though I knew what I needed to do to accomplish my goals.

It’s silly to even think about it because my issue was so obvious: fear. There were different flavors and rationalizations, but it all boiled down to fear. Paralyzing, life-ignoring, shield-myself-from-pain-and-disappointment, fear.

Well, enough of that. Issues of failing or succeeding, which by the way, are arbitrary measures, were never present in my goal-setting in the first place. I chose my goals simply because they made me happy, and regardless of any other external factor, I’d be doing them anyway (the only difference is now I have deadlines).

Also, it’s no surprise to me that experiencing other dreamers daring to live their dreams gave me the epiphany (read: punch in the face) that I needed to push on. No one accomplishes much by wallowing.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Steve Jobs

Share The Love

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Cover of "Jake Ransom and the Skull King'...

Cover of Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow

I’ve never written one of those ‘When I Grow Up…’ essays in school. I wouldn’t really know what I’d have said anyway if I did. A ballerina perhaps. I really enjoyed dancing, and I liked my tutus. Or, more likely, something practical, like a doctor.

But, since I’m thinking about it now, I’ve decided that when I grow up, I want to be like James Rollins. Not only is he a great author (his books will keep you up all night long), but also an inspirational speaker, and overall, really cool guy.

Until a few years ago, I’ve never really given much thought to my occupation because I kinda figured, ‘well, work is work, as long as I can pay my bills and fund my likes-to-travel lifestyle, I’ll be OK.’ I never seriously considered that writing and authoring books could be considered a viable “work goal.” It was always relegated to that strange, amorphous “wouldn’t it be nice” dream. Enter 2010, and the birth of this blog, and well, I realized dreams can become realities.

So why James Rollins, and not, say JK Rowling? Though Rowling’s rise to authorhood is inspiring indeed, I simply identify more with Rollins’s route. I’ve had the privilege of hearing James Rollins speak as the keynote speaker for this year’s DFW Writer’s Conference, and many of his life milestones resonated with me.

Even though he was a successful veterinarian, he still wanted to be an author. (And no, not the All Creature Great and Small, kind. More like the adventure-thriller kind.) He also thought that was a “wouldn’t it be nice…” goal until he got a wake up call from one of those motivational, live-the-life-you-dream kind of speakers. Rollins actually only listened to the first portion of that talk, but it was the most important part–write down your goals, and everyday, do something that will bring you one step closer to that goal.

Rollins wrote down his goal. Dedicated a portion of every day (even during a 12-14 hour work day) toward that goal. And with a little luck and a LOT of hard work and persistence (read: stubbornness), he became a best-selling author across multiple genres (aside from thrillers, he writes the Jake Ransom series for children, and he writes fantasy as James Clemens). Speaking of Jake Ransom…

Because James Rollins has become a role model for me, and because I think everyone needs a Rollins book in their personal library anyway, I’ll be giving away a signed copy of the first book of his children’s series, Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow to a random commenter who comments between now and next Monday, June 18, 11:59PM EST. Just let me know you’re interested and please leave your email!

This giveaway is now closed. Congrats DB Smyth! Random.org chose you! ^_^

So, now you know my new author role model, and kinda what I want to do with my life…what did YOU want to be when you grow up? Or, whose career path resonates with you the most?

2K A Day–Word Counts and Workouts

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The end of this month will mark the anniversary of when I first started really working on WIP2. I’d had the idea, the first chapter, and scene sketches since January 2011, but was still stubbornly working on my Hot Mess of a first novel.

Now, after a few breaks, a few re-visions (one of which was a POV switch from first person to third. Now I’m back to first), and a few weeks of seriously considering shelving it, here I am a year later fleshing out WIP2. And, this is by far, my most exciting re-vision yet.

I’ve been able to commit to, and complete, 2K words a day. It’s only been a week, but any progress is great progress, especially since I’ve been regularly writing 1K a day before.

Recently, I stumbled upon this article via a retweet by @LauraJMoss…

…and was intrigued! I loved the Knowledge, Time, and Enthusiasm metric, and was tickled to know that I already do this in a vague form. I’m already excited that I was able to increase my daily word count to 2K, but I would love to see it an extra push, especially on my days off from the paythebills job.

With that, I’m going to be a bit more diligent and aware about my most productive writing time. Most days, I’ll need to take what I can get, which is usually an hour before and after work. But maybe I can find better circumstances like before or after I eat; or, before or after a workout.

Speaking of workouts, I’m ashamed to say that in my excuse of focusing on WIP2, I gave myself permission to stop focusing on my health. Which is silly, because that’s like saying I gave myself permission to stop living!

So, in the spirit of 2K a day for my word counts, I’m also logging in 2K a day for my workouts. Not that I sprint 2K* each day or that I use 2K in any way for my weights, because that’s kinda weak, but that I have the mindset of pushing myself and challenging myself to be the best me I can be each day, including incorporating my strength training, which should never ever have stopped. Lesson learned. Moving on.

(*Besides, I just simply liked the phrase, “word counts and workouts.”)

I already have a big obstacle in the form of my Very Important Work Conference that I get to go to next week. It’ll be non stop, go, go, go, activities (which works well with the workout portion of my challenge…especially with their onsite weight facilities), but I may have a hard time crunching out 2K words between the activities during the day and the celebration dinners at night.

But, at least I’m working out a plan before I even leave: chapter outlines! So even if I’m ridiculously bone tired, I have a road map to help me churn out words regardless. At any rate, I remember my days of writing my Hot Mess and coming out of NaNoWriMo with 50K words while working two retail jobs in the height of the holiday season. Working out a way to write around the activities with the VIPs of my company for four days should be cake!

Have you tried any of these fast drafting techniques? What are your thoughts on them? For those who attended Candace Haven’s Fast Draft class at DFW con, do these principles seem familiar?

(For those interested in my views on fitness/health/mindset, I recommend Jason Ferruggia’s site. He is focused on making athletes bigger, stronger, faster, but when you read with discernment, he has a wealth of knowledge on his site that anyone must know. Fair warning: he uses strong language and his posts are littered with scantily clad women, but they don’t bother me. I actually view most of them as a visual to shoot for. ;)

My favorite posts of his are: Life Wasted, My Personal Journey, The Main Ingredient.)

Call Me Rock God

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I’m sure you’ve seen the “Rock God” iPhone commercial. If not, you can refresh your memory by clicking HERE.

I’ve loved that commercial ever since Apple launched it. It shows in simple digestible snippets how a dream becomes a reality. The boy doesn’t question his path. With smooth confidence, he buys a guitar, learns to play it, and eventually, rocks out with friends. And, he doesn’t wait for others to recognize that he’s a musician–he claims it for himself.

So, I’m under no illusion that he is far from sounding like a Rock God. But, I still watch the commercial and come away with the belief that yes, this boy creating this horrible racket, is indeed a musician. He is the Rock God he claims to be. Why? Because he lives his dream. Even before he had a guitar to call his own, let alone a band to play with, he had the Rock God mindset that drove him to find a guitar and learn how to play it.

I spent the weekend at DFW Writer’s Conference, and NYT bestselling author, James Rollins (the keynote speaker) shared the difference between getting published and not getting published: writing down his goal. 

After he wrote down his goal, he spent Every Single Day pursuing that goal. Even if it was a twenty-minute research session for his novel in progress or a full day of writing, every day was focused on making progress toward his goal. No one doubts that he is a successful author now, but I would argue that he thought of himself as an author before he was even published, before he found his agent. Probably the only thing that carried him through writing his first novel was the belief that he is an author.  A self-fulfilling prophecy, wouldn’t you say?

I attended several classes with James Rollins, and every time he spoke, I loved him more and more. I admired his ability to balance being a veterinarian (he can spay/neuter a cat in under 30 seconds!) and completing his novels.

(And, hearing about his journey inspired me to continue on my own. I’ll be hosting a giveaway of his children’s novel, Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow starting next week.)

I recognized some self-limiting beliefs this past week, and actually, this past month, that I need to change: mainly, that I can’t do this writing thing and should just give up, and I’m a fraud to call myself an author.

Thanks to James Rollins, I can claim that I’m an author. And, now I need to get to work! ;)

Any self-limiting beliefs you’ve been clinging to? Let them go! Tell me your “Call Me ___” or “I am ___” in the comments below! If you’d like, I can be an accountability buddy…I throw a mean badger if you stray from your path ;)

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