Five Things Every Day

I have some pretty far-off targets as far as my writing is concerned.


And a lot of them. My bucket list is currently 67 items long - large and small projects.

I can't read and write fast enough. Hope I live long enough to see these in their full form.

But every day counts, and dreaming won't write by itself.

So I take five steps a day...or four, or three, on really busy days.

Jack Canfield (the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' guy) writes about this in his process. He and his business partner would make sure they took five steps a day, in writing, and in marketing, to keep the momentum moving forward. It's a decision to commit to a daily process that leads to a final result.

It's a great thought, when I'm staring at a mountain far-off in the distance, and it feels like I'll never get there. The project is too big. My resources are too scarce. Time is getting away from me.

No it isn't. Anyone can take five steps. A baby can take five steps.

Just five small, doable things. And then five more tomorrow. And five more the day after that.

And I'm writing...and a writer...and a published writer. And it wasn't too big after all.

I spent a lot of years, running away from the decision to write. It wasn't practical. You can't make a living at it (or very few do, which is true). There's trolls out there, waiting to rip me into little pieces and laugh at the shreds. People who would tell me it's evil, or cliche, or can't you change it to include more women/better African-American characters/less Asian characters/more uplifting themes?

None of that matters anymore. I've made the decision (mostly by being backed into one corner or another and realizing that there wasn't anything else I wanted to commit my life to doing - it was always 'I'll do this until I'm well-off, and then I can write...wait a minute')

The process is hard, but super-satisfying every day, and that's the best part of all this. Every day on the path feels good, feels right to me. There's no part of me holding back anymore. It's a great feeling. Took a long time to get here, but glad I found my way.


Today I have legal stuff to do, and then I'm building character, and working on rough draft for a long piece and a short piece, and editing another short to post here soon.