Week 5: Pledging
10February 2, 2013 by Danielle Harris
Yesterday, I went through my email and unsubscribed to all the shopping sites, business advice, news feeds, and writers’ groups. I found myself spending far too much time checking unwanted emails, deleting emails I never read, and reading about writing when I actually could be writing.
I’m finding it hard to have the courage to be myself. I’m a list person. I figure out what I need to do to carry out something. I make a list. I check it off. The problem is, my lists don’t include writing … and if I really stay true to who I am, I must write.
I’m afraid a lot of the times. I’m afraid of criticism, of being laughed at, of being misunderstood, of being mistakenly understood, of hating my own words, of quitting, of failing. Aren’t we all? Perhaps success doesn’t come to all who have courage, but I question whether success comes to anyone who doesn’t.
In an effort to simplify and be courageous about my desires, I must recognize I can’t get everything right. And so, I need to get the important things right.
I want to write. Then…write.
Sounds easy.
It’s not.
It’s going to take a real commitment. A get-up-at-five-in-the-morning-and-hammer-out-chapters kind of commitment. It’s going to take a public declaration and a public humiliation if I don’t complete it. So, here goes:
I pledge to myself, my family, and my readers, that I will complete my novel in the next six months.
Simple. Precise. Confining! Scary! Argghh! So I’m going to press the publish button before I change my mind.
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Category: 52 Weeks to Simplicity | Tags: ark, Arts, David, dreams, Family, Fiction, God, Google, Hyundai Veloster, marriage, Noah, novel writing, parenting, simplifying, the simple life, the writing life, United States, writing
Danielle Harris
Good for you. I’m not a social network type of guy – or a social guy, even – but I’ve had to participate to advertise my writing. I just added people randomly, then one day when I was cleaning off about thirty e-mails, I went through and asked myself who i had gotten any feedback from, and who was just using me as a sounding board. Cut my list by over 50%.
Later…
smart. I’m not a social network o social person either. Yet, it is a necessary evil as a writer. I guess we have to keep a balance of give and take. It’s difficult because of the quantity.
Ok! Now we are talking! I pledge to get my portfolio done and into galleries in NYC and California by June 2013. I also pledge to paint 4 new pieces for my new series by then!
That’s the spirit! Paint, paint, paint. Focus. Less distractions. Where will our paths lead?
I’ve made a similar resolution lately (and I’m going to blog about it in the next week or so, too). It’s tough, but if we do it and fail, at least we can’t look back and think that we never even had the chance to fail. Of course, that’s on the pessimistic side. I hope we’re both productive and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Good luck!
I love reading your blogs because you speak writer to writer…and you struggle with all the same things: juggling motherhood and day jobs and the burning inside that keeps you writing.
Nicely Done. I read about this kind of thing in “The Four Hour Work Week”. So much of our media-saturated lives is dedicated to stealing our time! I dumped my word-seek and facebook from my phone, but this isn’t enough. Just the time it takes to glance down and see if you have any new emails adds up to wasted minutes, even hours. I tell myself I am looking for work-related emails, but then I am in a labyrinth. I have my face in my phone when I should be with my husband and daughters. Maybe us post-moderns need a new twist on the old adage : A place for everything and everything in its place” So, starting small, I pledge to not engage with technology throughout the day, but to pick a time to work and network and stick to it! A time for everything and everything in its time. Wait a minute….thats Ecclesiastes! So….this isn’t a new problem. HA!
Yeah, I can’t believe how many times a day I “check” my phone. And for what? For all the constant checking, I get rewarded by something cool or helpful or necessary about once a week. If there were any other vice that gave so little reward, we’d drop it in a second. But they say that the sound of your phone is more addictive than a match lighting or bottle of beer being opened. Pretty soon, we might have people attending TA meetings (technology anonymous):)
Congratulations! Get it done! You can do it, I know you can!
Thank you so much for believing in me! And reading:)