Tag Archives: Writing

Achieving Goals in 2016.

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I had a couple of goals for the past year. A few of them were sidetracked but I kept to them as much as I could.

I wanted to get in better shape, which I did through half the year, but faltered in the latter half. This was my fault and I take full responsibility for it.

I wanted to finish a book. I finished two.

I wanted to spend more time with my family, especially my wife.

I’ve done this. I was able to attend multiple field trips with my daughter and watch my son perform at his Christmas guitar concert.

I wanted to read a lot more. The only way to improve you writing is by reading.

I read 15 fiction book and 11 non-fiction, which I’ll list below.

Fiction: The Darkness that Comes Before – R. Scott Bakker, The Fireman – Joe Hill, The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty, Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay, Haunting of Hill House – Shirly Jackson, Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb, The Dragon Reborn – Robert Jordan, The Shadow Rising – Robert Jordan, The Magic of Recluse – L.E. Modesitt Jr., Prince of Thorns – Mark Lawrence, Magician: Apprentice – Raymond Feist, The Man in the High Castle – Phillip K. Dick, Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson.

I’m also reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and should have it done by the end of the year.

Non-Fiction: Ask Gary V – Crush It – Jab, Jab, Right Hook all by Gary Vaynerchuck. The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster – Darren Hardy, Go For No – Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz,  Go Pro – Eric Worre, Grit – Angela Duckworth, Scrum – JJ Sutherland, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck – Mark Manson, No God but God – Reza Aslan.

There are a couple of books from each of these lists that have either changed the way I write or the way I think.

From fiction: Head Full of Ghosts and Prince of Thorns. Both of these books gave me a new way to look at my writing and others writing, I would put Left Hand of Darkness on this list as well but I haven’t finished it and am only judging for the first two-thirds of the book.

From Non-Fiction: No God but God, Crush It and Grit. These three changed my brain about a few things.

No God but God gave me insight into Islam, a topic that is reported improperly in MSM. Islam is something I’ve wanted to learn more about and this was a good place to start. Crush It was the book that changed my mind about my writing and how hard I wasn’t working to achieve my goals. Grit helped me identify where I’m lacking in preparation for my writing.

I accomplished my goals for the most part, but I still have a couple things to improve.

Next year I’ll be publishing.

 

What I learned after a year of writing full-time.

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You have to know what you want in life in order to attain it.

At 14-years-old I wanted to be a writer but was rebuffed by my father. “You can’t make money doing that.” He said.

Well, I may not be making money, yet, but I’m closer than I was a year ago stuck in a dead-end job that left me hating my life at the end of the day.

In the past year, I’ve written four short stories and one novel and I’m trying to get a novel on Amazon by the end of October.

Here is what I’ve learned in the last year of writing full-time:

  • You must create a schedule for yourself and stick to it.
  • You have to write every day, even if that writing is a blog post, you must write.
  • You must have a damn outline. This is the biggest for me. It gives me a path to the finish line. Before I was only writing and not finishing, if I have an endpoint, I get there.
  • You must go it alone sometimes. There are times you must lock yourself away to get writing done. People you love will have to understand that. If they don’t, they’re not worthy of your attention.
  • It will be harder than you think. You must push through those moments when the words suck and you hate the story. You must find yourself in the words and never leave until they’re done.
  • You must have a creative outlet other than writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s photography, painting or anything else, but you must have another place to create or you can get fried.

I could put more than this and it might be too many but in the end the most important is that you get words on the page.

If you’re not getting words on the page, you’re not a write, period.

Peace,

Brian

To Wallow or not to wallow

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Every once in a while, we get the chance to do something in our lives that matters and we’re excited about and talk about, then the damn rug is pulled out from under us and we’re sitting in the dirt wondering what the fuck happened.

We have a couple of options at this point:

  1. We can wallow in our own piss and misery.
  2. We can find something else to motivate us and get our ass up and work.

Number one is the easiest, number 2 is where we really learn about who we are, what we want and how hard we’re willing to work for what we want.

The dirt is comfortable and it keeps us closer to the easy life, but it doesn’t do anything to improve who we are.

Getting our ass off the floor and working on our life, that’s the best path, maybe not the easiest, but it is the best.

Dig in, climbs the walls, breach the battlements and steal the damn throne, that’s what we’re made for.

 

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When we decide to follow our dreams, it will be harder than we thought it would be.

We must orchestrate everything to make sure it happens. This goes for our family life and how we’re able to afford to take the monetary hit.

I like to say I work three jobs, but only get paid for two, but that’s not really true.

I think my writing helps me do the other two.

My writing frees me up and lets me do the other things that help my family. When I’m published and I hopefully don’t have to do those other jobs, I’m not sure what I’ll do with the free time I may have.

Right now, I’m writing more than I ever have and that is what I’ve wanted for the last ten years.

I see the improvement in my writing by get words every day and I see how hard I’m working to make everything work and I’m more proud of what I’m doing than at any time in my life.

I love what I’m doing and more than any other time in my life, I love what I’m doing and how I’m helping the world get better, either through my words or through my actions working for campaigns.

Purpose and Legacy

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It’s in the inactivity of who we are that our minds are clouded by the things we find purpose in.

Finding purpose in our lives is the utmost effective way of living our lives.

We must find purpose in the life we live. We must endure the tragedies, falsehoods and

We must endure the tragedies, falsehoods, and betrayals others set upon us, for it’s in overcoming these that we’ll truly find purpose.

The strength we harbor in our souls will be the mast and sails leading us through the difficulties of discovering our purpose.

Purpose legacy and the endgame of what we need to accomplish is the light at the end of our lives.

Our endgame should be our legacy.

It should be the one thing that differentiates us from others.

Within our souls, we find that the world is how we make it and because of that, those of us who find our purpose will be the leaders of the future.