I had one of “those” days today, where nothing quite seemed to go as planned 😛 It wasn’t hijacked, per se, but it did take a course I hadn’t anticipated to begin with. But, I hadn’t planned a whole lot for the day, to be honest, so it wasn’t all that stressful.
I was tired today. Been thinking a lot about the course of my life, where I’m at and where I’d like to go. We’re saving money and working hard, but we don’t necessarily have a PLAN set it place, you know? And coupled with that: I don’t have a timeline for myself in terms of converting myself to writing full-time. I need to do those things. Not that the plan needs to work out exactly as it’s dreamed up…no, life has definitely shown me that almost never happens…but at least I want to have a couple goals in mind to reach for.
Coco has laid her head up on my leg as I write my entry tonight. SHE’S SO FRIGGIN CUTE YOU GUYS. Ughhhhh. Poor Coops has been getting eaten alive lately, and we were worried maybe something might be wrong with his tick and flea meds…until we realized just now from watching a video the Ho found on her phone from this time exactly last year…that this same exact thing happened a year ago. It’s clearly a seasonal thing. Fleas and/or ticks are just out in the world aplenty right now. His meds are working fine, he’s not getting a colony on his back, but he is getting bit on the walks. Poor guy.
Anyway…I did actually do some research today on what I might be able to do for “deliberate practice” writing-wise. I read some articles with some exercises and some prompts. I’m going to start doing that every morning before I write. We’ll see how it goes.
But yeah…the more of these podcasts I listen to, the more I realize that this writing books thing is something I *can* do, that I *love* doing, and that if I put my mind and energy behind it is something I can have some success at and make myself a living. But it’s going to take a LOT of work. Like, easily 5 hours a day, and that’s just to get started. An hour of “practice” a day, three hours of writing, and then at least another hour for social media stuff. Having an online presence is a must now. A MUST. And it’s something that I should start immediately.
So…I guess I “get it.” I get it now when I hear these authors talk about when they decided to “take their writing seriously.” It’s great to write your first book for two years…but that second book needs to be finished in 6 months…and then the third book needs to be finished in 3. Or 2. That means “getting serious.” Well, I’m on the cusp now of finishing that first book. Phase I of the master plan is actually drawing to a close. I need to figure out what Phase II looks like, and how long it will be. Because Phase III is full-time writing. Probably not exclusively writing…Phase III will probably still necessitate another job on the side. But once I get a series finished, or at least a couple books sold, the writing will need to be a full-time gig.
We’ll call Phase IV the dream phase, the ultimate goal: Ira has ONE job, and that is as a writer. I’ve been away from that for so long…I realize part of my slow-ness getting to that phase is that what I’m doing right now working 4 jobs…well, that’s a comfortable state. Comfortable in that I’ve gotten used to it for so long. To so singularly focused, particularly on something that’s not paying me immediately…that’s very uncomfortable. But I *think* it’s what I want.
And then tied in all that is…where are Liz and I headed in terms of our lives? Are we trying to save to buy something? Are we going to invest our savings instead and stay managing an apartment building for several more years? I don’t know. That’s obviously something we’ll need to talk about…but I’m realizing that not-knowing definitely stresses me out. But at least today I realized that I’m putting that stress on myself. There isn’t actually a ticking clock or a crisis on the horizon. I can take a deep breath and set my own compass…or WE can do that, together. So, that’s a good thing to remember.
Anywho…it was a weird day. And tomorrow will be weird, too, because my routine will be all out of whack. Going into the office for some work, and then podcasting with Josh. We’re SO CLOSE to being finished with Season Two! Lots of editing work then on my end to get it out there…but I’ve taken enough time away from that I know I can do it. AND, I won’t be painting myself into a corner this time by announcing to early when it’s going to release. I learned that lesson the first time: don’t announce a release date until that shit is FINISHED and you’re just sitting on something ready to go 😛
Night, guys. I guess I had a lot to talk about tonight!