Grinding Down Mountains: A Blog Post on Positivity and and Writing

Grinding

Down

Mountains

A Blog Post on Positivity and Writing

There are immense mountains meant to keep us from writing and achieving our goals of traditional and self publication. Often times it's the real world that does so, and it's up to us to imagine a way to grind down those mountains in a civil manner. When grinding, it helps to understand that not everything and everyone is under your control. First, I'd like to discuss the things that form mountains to keep your creativity hidden. Second, I'd like to cover how to overcome the mountains formed by people.

Three things create mountains to grind down. Health. Money. Time. Each of these go hand in hand and contain several sub genres. Your health when writing must be held to the highest standard. Often times writers compensate being tired with caffeine. I enjoy soda and lattes to pep me up. What really needs to be done is having a goodnight sleep. Steve Harvey once said that rich people don't sleep eight hours a day. Arnold Schwarzenegger has mentioned something similar in regards to body building. My recommendation is to get a solid six hours by putting your phone on silent and setting an alarm for the next day. You also want to ask yourself do I really need to eat more or am I just stressed? I've stress eaten. It makes me want to sleep more and write less. In 2020, all of this must change for me, and if you share this issue, all of you must make a change. It isn't easy but writing a book, querying, marketing and writing that next book isn't either.

Money. Its what charges our laptops before we sit down to type. Its what we earn in our efforts to make it in the publishing industry. If you have children, a wife or husband, or just live on a island in the middle of the ocean like me, its a constant issue. (The island is metaphorical but I'd really prefer it to Pennsylvania's temperamental weather.) To take the self publishing route, money, will be on you which makes you a small business owner from the start. I congratulate anyone who does it, however it personally isn't for me. What I do know of self publishing is three items which will boost a writers confidence and sales to. Do not skimp on the cover, editing/formatting and market routinely.

In regards to traditional publishing, of which I am pursuing, a strategy to use your advance and royalties in a professional manner will create immense positivity. My hope is to someday become a full time writer. I am aware of how the money works in it, and though it's raises another mountain to grind down, its something I'm willing to understand. In the meantime, myself and all of you should stick to that day job, and do so even after getting a book deal. To keep your spirits high, quitting your day job is a bad option. As far as using that advance and royalties in a professional manner you must consider yourself a business owner as you would with self publishing. Put some money away if you can and use the rest for marketing and travel.   

Now on to time. I was always told you have to make time for what you want. This is my advice to you as well. You may have days or even weeks with a lot to do and even a touch of writers block. To battle this, carry around a notebook to jot down ideas, pieces of dialogue, or even that dragon slaying strike that saves the day. I was at a writers workshop where the speaker said to only spend a max of twenty minutes on social media. Stick to that please. I can't tell you how many times social media has distracted me. It also makes you jealous or envious of writers further along. Stay within that twenty minute window, ignore those ahead of you in this writers life and keep writing. Doing all of this will make the time mountains rubble and your words fly from your fingertips.

Here comes the most difficult mountain to grind down. People. You have to create the conditions both in the work place and at home to make writing possible. This does not mean refusing to work with someone or calling off in regards to the job itself. You have to realize you may not know their whole story. If they choose to be toxic, ignore them or speak in as polite a way as possible. Ignoring is the hardest of the two. I plan to do that by leaving those who cause me issues alone, and then eventually, maybe, they will come around to being nice. I have found speaking in a polite way with kind words works best. It may make them see its pointless to hold a grudge or cause more havoc.

At home, there are noisy neighbors, issues with the house, kids and your spouse. These are situations I have experience only in two of. Noisy neighbors and issues with the house. I use ear plugs, leave the house to write in a coffee shop and use my breaks between writing sessions to clean or cut grass.

I hope this post helps. 2020 is a new decade and fresh start. Grab that jack hammer and bring down those mountains to writing.