Today was a productive first day off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Typically on Friday’s that I’m off I spend it working on my YouTube channel – which I did. I wasn’t able to record anything this week since I was only working four days because it is my 9/80 Friday (for those not in the know a 9/80 schedule is where you work 9hr days to get your 80hrs for 2wks so that you get every other Friday off) and it was crazy busy. So I did a live stream instead for about an hour that went really well.
On the stream, I talked about how I spent a lot of time this week procrastinating instead of writing. Turns out there are a lot of wanna-be-writers like me out there and two of them watched my stream today. One does the same thing I do which is all of this busy work instead of actually facing the blank page and writing something. Crazy thing is that it made me feel a bit better about myself knowing there are other aspiring writers out there who do the same thing.
Once the stream ended I watched a few YouTube videos on writing for inspiration. Yeah, I know – more procrastinating. But hear me out! It actually worked and got me to where I was able to face that blank page. The videos I watched and saved in a private folder for future reference told me exactly what I needed to hear. That I have all the qualifications I need to be a writer. That I don’t need fancy equipment, a degree, or anything other than a spark for a story.
With that newfound confidence, I fired up Scrivener, set up the short story template for the prequel to PIP’s GAMBIT, and wrote about 600 words. Nothing earth-shattering, but it is a start. More importantly, it showed me that I can do this and that it is not “work” like I thought it would be. Instead, it was fun. More fun than I thought it would be. Terrifying, sure – but overall it was fun and I am relieved at that realization.
Something else this showed me is that I think I can write faster than I thought. Not because 600 words was my goal. My goal was 1000 words. The reason I didn’t make that goal was because I found myself doing exactly what one of the videos I watched told me not to do. I was trying to make the first draft perfect, editing instead of just letting the writing flow and getting the story down. Something I will definitely correct in the next writing session.
So for me today was a good day! I am excited to be writing again and found that I still enjoy it as much as I did when I was a kid and first fell in love with the idea of being a writer. Now I find myself daring to ask – am I a writer now or is it still a dream? What is the point of conception?
Looking at that question on the screen that I just wrote looks silly to me now because as soon as I wrote it I found myself thinking who the fuck cares!? You want to be a writer and today you wrote the beginning of your first draft. You’re a writer now. The real question is will you see this through or will it be another project you start and never finish?
You always start strong, Keller, but your finish needs work.
-B
BRANDON KELLER.NET 