Writing Update
Scenes Arranged: 0
Total Scenes: 83
It finally happened. I had a zero-scene day. It’s been a while. Yesterday was kind of a crazy day and I fell asleep early. These things happen. The victory I AM taking in this is that I’ve stuck with my blog and am now on a 12-day streak (according to WordPress. Something squirrelly happened and I lost a week of streaking so it’s more like 20 days, but oh well; point is i’m sticking with it). It feels good to write every day, even if I only make it to my blog…occasionally.
Reading Update
Vengeful: 61%
Out of the Silent Planet: 100%! (5/25 toward reading goal)
Perelandra: 12%
Hoopla is seriously upping my reading game again. Loving it. These C.S. Lewis books are a bit rough to get through because of the archaic language (*cough cough* Tolkienesque *cough cough*). They’re good, it’s just between the older language and the heavy British accent of the reader, I have to stay focused to really absorb the stories. So far so good, though.
Personal Update
It’s Hamilton Day!
*ahem*
I mean it’s Valentine’s Day!
I’ve got the day off of work and a number of things to do around the house to serve my wife and show her I love her. And then this afternoon we’re checking the kids out early to head out to see HAMILTON! We’ve all been excited about this for so long and it’s finally here. I hope the kids enjoy it as much as we know we will. I’ll let you know how it all went tomorrow.
Discussion Topic
Personal Accountability in Writing
Now for a more serious topic: personal accountability. You hear a lot about this in church, but I’m relating it to your writing today. One thing I’ve read often online recently is that all your efforts in promotion and blogging and artwork are worthless without the writing (thanks Sooz!). But a lot of writers beat themselves up if they miss a day of writing because of other authors/bloggers saying that the only way to success is to write every day. We’ve talked about that pitfall before. So the question remains: how do you strike the balance.
I missed a day yesterday. For me, this is a torn experience. I’ve never been the type of person to write every day. I write in fits and spurts. I’ll write a lot and then go a day or two dry. I’ve always WANTED to be the one writing every day and have striven for it in the past, but never achieved it successfully. Recently, I’ve been consistent in scene arrangement (which is writing, don’t @ me), but now I missed a day. Am I a failure? Do I suck?
No.
Flat out no. Life got in the way. I missed a day. Am I happy about it? Of course not. Do I wish I had gotten at least one scene down? Sure. Am I beating myself up? Well, maybe a little. But I’m also trying to practice some positive self-talk in telling myself that missing one day is okay as long as I get back in the habit. Today. Immediately.
THAT is personal accountability. It isn’t self-flagellation or, worse yet, self-crucifixion. Those just lead to despair and an unwillingness to get back in the saddle. Accountability is acknowledging that you fell down and then getting back up and saying, “That wasn’t great. Let’s do better.” It’s remembering that before you fell down, you WERE standing, walking, running, or whichever metaphor you choose to employ. You CAN do this because you already WERE doing it. So go do it.
I know I am even on a day like today. My art is my passion and it deserves to be nurtured.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG