Getting My Ducks In A Row

Somehow, nearly the entire month of April has whizzed past, and I have little writing to show for it.

And so, I'm going to begin the week with a secret handed down to me by my friend Fiona Avery, who learned it from her friend, J. Michael Straczynski, who has used it so well that you probably know his name.  I think Joe may have gotten this secret from the genius that is Harlan Ellison -- or maybe he came up with it himself -- but however it was discovered, it really can work.

Here it is:  "Butt to chair."

Don't knock it.  It really can lead to something productive if you use it wisely.

I've been trying to work on a novel for a while now.

There, I've said it out loud.  "Trying" being the operative word there.

I have a great idea for a series of them, actually, with a main character who has been running around my head, demanding that her adventures be written down so that others can get a chuckle out of them, too.  I've written whole scenes in my head, spent hours walking around while wrestling with plot points, started a notebook full of character development.

But I'm not nearly done yet.

I'm paralyzed by a fear that it won't be good enough.  That I will fail at this, and because it means the world to me to write it, that's scaring the bejeebers out of me.

Well, no more.


Writing a novel has been a lifelong dream for me, being able to see my name on the spine of a book in the library, writing down thoughts that help people to laugh and think and even sometimes cry, but always pulling them along with something that started as a germ of a story in my mind's eye.

So, what's holding me back?  The fear that I won't be good enough.  That if I am not, that dream -- the one that I've held most closely my entire life, will wither away and die.   And to keep that from happening?  I'm frozen and not living in a way that makes that dream become a reality.

Which is all a load of hooey.

I refuse to be controlled by fear on this any longer.  This week?  I get my ducks in a row, and do the work required to finish the book I've been working on and get it sent out to an editor.  If it doesn't sell?  Then I'll keep on trying and I'll write another and another and another until I make this a reality.

It's how I've conquered every other obstacle in my path my entire life.  Just because I want this more than any other dream I've ever had, that doesn't give me leave to curl up into a ball, frozen and hiding from what I know I should be doing to make this a reality.

This is the week I get my ducks in a row and put butt to chair.  If I want to be a writer, I'd better damn well write.

But I need to be accountable in order to push myself forward on this.  So I'm going to post, publicly, what my progress is on a day to day basis.  The desire to avoid public humiliation is a strong one for me, and I'm going to leverage that to my advantage, I hope, as incentive to write more and more.  Here's hoping, anyway.

And so?  Butt to chair...

(Adorable photo of black-bellied whistling duck and ducklings standing all in a row via (Bill and Mavis) B&M Photography.  Loved this shot!)