I love writing challenges and writing prompts, and ideas. And being a member of a writing group is great because the group offers opportunities to take your writing further, dig deeper, expand further, and tighten it all up better. Writing alone is necessary at times, but being involved with others who you trust and value, that is awesome.
So something awesome is going to happen in January, 2021, that is writing related. One of the members of my writing group, who has been reading small bits of the Cosy Murder Mystery novel I’m currently writing, has decided she would like to see bigger snippets of the work at a time, and more regularly.
Michelle, my lovely reader/fellow writing group member, in fact wants me to send her 500 words of my novel, every single day of January, and then, after that, she and I will get together to see what I have, what it’s heading, what still needs to happen with it, and so on. I value Michelle’s knowledge, and am looking forward to what she says, for sure.
But it gets even better, because Michelle has let me know she’s interested in taking part in this challenge herself, and if so would send me 500 words of her current work in progress! Woo hoo, we are cooking with gas on this one!
This is why being involved with other writers can be so awesome – we understand the problems, and rejoice when things go the way you want them to go! It’s nice for instance if your mum likes your writing, but having an intelligent reader/writer giving considered feedback is potentially way more useful.
So many thanks to my lovely friend Michelle we can make magical things happen together!
Yes there are two words, only two, that are holding me back from being the person I most wish to ultimately be. If I can crack the code, learn the password, bake the cake, in fact stop metaphorising and actually do it, I’ll be set for a great and inspirational life. But these two words, they there, every day, every moment I think now is the time to ‘do it’ and get started …
So what are these two words, you ask? Hmm, Procrastination and Prioritisation. These two words are the bane of my better life, the life I wish to live, that is bigger and better than the life I’m living right now. Don’t get me wrong, my current life is a fine life, far better than the life many others are living. I have a spouse I love and who loves me, I have a fine son who is getting on well in his life. I have great family and friends.
I’ve achieved things, I have books published, people in my community know who I am, and respect me. But I am a flawed person, one who realises all of us are also flawed in some ways, because that is the nature of being human. But I definitely know I have plenty of time, and the ability to be better than I currently am …
I put things off until another time, and I fail to give attention to the most important things to be done. I know these things, but what am I doing? I’m sitting on my bottom, writing about it, when it would be much more beneficial if I were sending off copies of my relevant CV to organisations who may want me as a Public Speaker. I even have an email that I could easily flick off to relevant bodies, and I have a fair idea of who those bodies are, that may respond favourably.
So have I done it yet? No, not really, and why not? Well, it’s a difficult time of the year, the between time after Christmas, but before the New Year. And I’m not entirely convinced my ideas on what I would talk about would be as good as I’d like to think. And, and, and. So do I have a plan for when and to whom I’m going to send off my CV, sell my worth as a great public speaker, step up into the lime light? No, of course not. And why not?
Hmm a good question that one. Why on earth haven’t I done that yet, at least devised, or begun devising a plan of action to get this done? I think I know the answer, and it’s a shameful one, in some ways, but again, not an uncommon one. The reason, of course, is fear. Fear of not measuring up, of not being good enough. Fear of failure.
But is that even a thing worthy of my ongoing thoughts? If I try something and fail, I will try again, if it’s something I care enough about, and the more I try, and fail and try again, the more I will learn, and eventually, the better at that thing I will be. That’s a good thing, something to aim at, not to fear.
So why am I still here, sitting on my bottom, and not looking at and improving my CV, and adding new possible organisations to send it off to? Inertia, comfort, and yes, still that fear, that feeling my best won’t be good enough. I need a big kick up my comfy bottom, so I get a move on and get things done!
If anyone out there has big boots, please give me that kick up the bottom, so I’ll get a move on, and move into the new year with plans and ideas, and gigs booked! Thanks, all comments welcome, I need the inspiration, the embarrassment, the oomph, to break through and get me moving!
Being something is always difficult. I remember, as an eight year old, I wanted to be a bike rider. I’d been given a bike for my birthday, and had sat on it, but that didn’t make me a bike rider. To get to that illustrious stage, I had to actually get both feet on the bike pedals, and pedal, fast, to beat Gravity!
But taking feet from the safety of the ground was the scary part, pedalling is hard work, and Gravity is a bitch and hated me. But eventually, after attempts and failures, skun skin, blood, bruises and pain, I did it, I became a bike rider. That first step to the glory of being a bike rider is like many things in life, it’s scary, and painful, if not physically, then emotionally. Being the loser that falls over instead of zooming along the road is embarrassing, at the least, and even worse if one lets it be.
But being a learner at anything, these are the needed steps, and each time you try something, really give it all you’ve got, well that is a thing to celebrate, no matter the result. So you fail at getting all the way down the driveway on your bike? So what, you got both feet from the ground and you pedalled some, you champ! One metre, two metres, ten, twenty, five thousand metres and more, it all starts with getting both feet off the ground, and trying.
So, if I am going to be the whatever it is I want to be, I will have to get my feet off the ground and pedal my hardest, ignoring any fear, and making sure I have enough band aids, to stop from bleeding too much! I can do this. I know I can, and I have the mindset, the story, the desire to share, and the ability to do the job. I am on my way to being the Public Speaker I most want to be!
You see, that is definitely one of my plans, my desired life roles. I have a story, I am able to speak well, interestingly, and both entertain, and inspire others. I know this, because I have been told so, by the ones who were entertained, or inspired by me and my words. I’ve lived a life worth telling others about. I’ve been down, way done, and am now up much, much higher.
So I have an inspiring tale to tell, regarding at least two kinds of potentially bad news, that have become good news stories, because of how I have been able to rise above the bad, to make it good. Child sexual abuse, and then a potentially crippling disability, both gotten over, and not holding me back. My life may have had some negative aspects, but my life attitude, that is rolled gold positive stuff!
I am now living a good life, because I have worked at making it so. Some things can hold you down, if you let them, for sure. I have been able to work through the bad things, with help from terrific family and friends, and am now living a good life, on the way to becoming a great life. I have written words I’ve shared and will continue to share with others, and now it’s time to share my spoken words!
I will become a noted public speaker, and if it couldn’t happen this year, for the obvious reason of this terrible Covid 19, let it be next year, with the year 2021 becoming the year I took my next, and possibly biggest step into the life of a Public Speaker. This blog post is announce my commitment to stepping more directly into public life, a firm step into life as a public speaker, as all of my writing life, books written and published have been steps towards affirming the truth of being an interesting person, adept with words, and with plenty of good stuff to tell others about!
My contact details are here, my book details are here As you can see, if you take a look, I have written on a wide range of things, some serious, some funny, all of it interesting! If you need a public speaker, contact me, and we can make it happen!
In writing, as in life, gaining encouragement is an important thing to help a person keep going. Of course, we must encourage ourselves too, because the internal messages we tell ourselves can be crippling, and easily kill off an idea, no matter how good it is.
So I say thank you, to the people who have let me know they’re following along with the progress in my Cosy Murder Mystery novel, the first in the proposed “At Talloola” series with amateur sleuth Meredith Webster. Having you with me, as I work my way through this first book is certainly greatly helping me!
Books take time, particularly when a writer is used to writing poems, and is accustomed to being able to get a poem written, edited, and done within a day, when it goes well. A novel, no matter how good it’s going, is going to take at least a month.
Anyway, thanks, and I can promise you, a novel will happen. By the end of 2021, Winds of Death At Talloola, will be written, and if not published, at least available to be read in pre-published form.
Writing a novel isn’t an easy thing to do. To have a piece of writing your could call a novel, you have to have written at least 50,000 words, and preferably longer. For general fiction novels you would be looking at 75,000 to 120,000 words for a book.
A Cosy Murder Mystery, which are what I am currently writing, ‘should have’ somewhere between 50,000 to 75,000 words, is what my check on google tells me. I can do that, can’t I? This moment of wondering if I can do it, is a problem, because if I’m not careful, my mind will decide I can’t actually do it, and the 30,000 words I’ve managed to write so far will be a waste of my writing time.
I don’t want to have to just scrap those words, and the ideas I’ve had for the current (first) novel, and the almost twenty further novels I have planned. By planned, I mean book titles a a brief idea about the murder, who, what, or how … I don’t want to ditch it all! And I have to admit, I’ve fallen in love with the idea of writing these books, and I have a lot of affection for all of the characters I have, and the setting.
If I stop this writing, my main character, Meredith will get cranky with me, and so will some of my other characters. I get the idea many people in Talloola (my town I created), are looking forward to have lots of interesting things happening around town!
So I am going to do this, and to help me, I know have a friend who has been helping me get the words written, by asking me to send 200 words to her every day. I haven’t been able to do that every day, and then she put up the number of words she wanted me to send. Then of course, along came Christmas, and this novel writing thing went by the wayside, in favour of getting presents, and then visiting for the ‘season’.
But my friend, Michelle, can=me up with a plan, and told me what it was. I thought about it, briefly, and said yea, I can and will do that. So the plan is that I will send Michelle 500 words every day, and if I miss a day, I will send extra to make up for it. This plan begins on the first of January, and will continue for all of the month.
So, by the end of the month, I’ll have 15,500 more words written for my novel, on top of the number I already have for my partly written first book. So, my current word count is around 31,000 words. Add 15,00 to that and you have 46,500 words, and that is more than half way through!
So Michelle and I will have a writing session, talking about what is there, what is needed, how it’s all going, and what needs to come next. It should be a useful discussion for sure! So when/if I get this first book in the ‘At Talloola’ series of Cosy Murder Mysteries, written and published I’m definitely going to thank Michelle in the book, as well as a couple of other friends, Cathy, and Jill! Oh, and Alex too, of course.
This road is the sort of road my main character may drive down, as she works. Talloola is very much a country town, many miles from the capital city of South Australia.
Alex is a member of my writing group, and so is Michelle. Alex is the one who gives group members writing prompts for the writing exercise at the group meeting, and then for homework. These prompts have been excellent for getting ideas for this book, and for poetry writing too. Prompts seem to help connect with hidden spots in the brain, and very interesting things can crawl out!
Having this group, and the group members there who are interested in how my writing is going helps to keep things going, and Christmas has been a distraction from this novel. I’ve written blog posts, at least one, about life getting in the way before. But life is what you need, so you know lots of different things, to feed into what you write!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 