This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group asked, “What advice do you think your younger self would give to you now? What advice would you give to your older self/future self?”
Then
FOCUS!In college, I first had the idea that I too could write a romance novel. It’s still firmly tucked under the bed, a few chapters in. I just sat down and started writing. No planning, no outline. Seat of my pants. And those first three chapters came out, splat onto the page. Then I hit a wall. I had no idea what happened next. In addition to that, I was in my junior year and there was so much shiny out there in the world to explore. The campus had just been wired with intranet and we had a chat system. This was not a recipe for good concentration. So, like now, my younger self would be warning me to focus on what I want to do, and do it.
Don’t just play around for a bit, keep at it!
Oh, and she’d tell me she really likes taking pictures, keep at that too!
Now
“Reach for the moon because even if you miss you will be among the stars.”I know I still have focus issues, but without a goal to shoot for, it doesn’t get you anywhere. This quote is another instance of the universe whispering in my ear. I keep seeing it everywhere. And as part of our accountability group we do set goals, but I suspect I like checking things off more than pushing myself to stretch farther. Recently, everything has been about stepping outside my comfort zone, I need to also reach higher and keep taking those steps to get there.
It can be kinda fun to pause on the staircase to look around and see how far you’ve come. But keep going! If you don’t push yourself, you’ll never see how far you can go.
YOUR TURN:What would your younger self say to you now? What do you want to tell your future self?
And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my accountability group answered, you can find their blogs here:
This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “If you could do anything for writing research, what would you do?” Honestly, this was a no-brainer for me. I’d head over to Suzi Love’s blog and pull up her category of posts for the Best Places to Visit that relate to…
Yes, that would be me: the slacker, not the woman in the picture. I don’t know if slacking is the right term though. It’s been a crazy week. I’m consistently short on sleep and that only makes it all worse. The other night, I made the mistake of making DH read through the first 20…
This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “There was an article a bit ago about how readers take on character traits of a favorite character from the book they’re reading. Do you do that with your own characters? Do you find yourself doing something your character would do?” I…
So, I began this writer’s journey in earnest a little over seven months ago. I’m not counting any previous false starts (they never lasted long before) or tangential experiences (we’re talking stringing sentences together, but more interactive and emergent stuff or related non-fiction). What I mean is a serious focus on craft and honest attempts…
Sorry, no fancy image today. I’ve been so tired this week. It’s crazy. We camped out Saturday night and I didn’t sleep well, as usual. Only it was worse than usual, because my legs ached from hiking to the bathrooms and back several times and they decided to cramp. There was also a lot of…
*** UPDATE: THE WINNER OF THE EBOOK COPY OF LOVE REVEALED IS: TONI NOEL!! CONGRATS! *** Please welcome Sorcha Mowbray to the blog today! We’re celebrating her debut LOVE REVEALED which releases on February 3rd from Decadent Publishing . Now, some of you MAY be wondering why I’m interviewing an erotic romance author here on…
My younger self would say “The question isn’t what are you going to do. The question is what aren’t you going to do?” Then my younger self would pause and say “You’re still here?”
Sorry. I know I’m paraphrasing Ferris Bueller, but he’s still my hero.
Loved that movie. The reprise in the superbowl commercial was awesome too!
Great advice, no matter the source though! Thanks for stopping by, Jillian!
I like Jillian’s younger self’s advice. My younger self would tell me to be active. Exercise.
HI Kristen!
Fun blog and very thought provoking. I would definitely tell my younger self to push harder and focus, dammit!! I would also tell her to avoid dating boys her roomates made up funny nicknames for–ie: Sandbox Boy. He ended up being something a cat would bury in a sand box. LOL More proof that love is blind. 😉
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! Did the nicknames come before or after the meaning? Sounds like something fun to work into a story!
Now that your younger self has spoken, you can do it!
Hi, Kristen!
My younger self would say “The question isn’t what are you going to do. The question is what aren’t you going to do?” Then my younger self would pause and say “You’re still here?”
Sorry. I know I’m paraphrasing Ferris Bueller, but he’s still my hero.
Loved that movie. The reprise in the superbowl commercial was awesome too!
Great advice, no matter the source though! Thanks for stopping by, Jillian!
I like Jillian’s younger self’s advice. My younger self would tell me to be active. Exercise.
HI Kristen!
Fun blog and very thought provoking. I would definitely tell my younger self to push harder and focus, dammit!! I would also tell her to avoid dating boys her roomates made up funny nicknames for–ie: Sandbox Boy. He ended up being something a cat would bury in a sand box. LOL More proof that love is blind. 😉
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! Did the nicknames come before or after the meaning? Sounds like something fun to work into a story!
Now that your younger self has spoken, you can do it!