I don't know about you, but I've always struggled with finding out who I am, and being confident in myself. My whole life, I've felt like I've chased my own tail trying to figure out my identity. So many people have told me what they think I should be, and I've always listened, not realizing they know me about as well as I did (which is, not well). I was too busy trying to live up to the expectations of my family and friends to stop and ask, "Is this really what I feel called to? Do I believe this about myself? Who am I, really?"
It also doesn't help that I'm indecisive. It's taken the first twenty years of my life to grapple with the fact that my identity comes from God, not from the family I was born into, the friends I hang around with, or the occupation God called me to. Once I had that solid foundation, and believe me, I'm still working on staying firm in that truth, it came time to wait on God to reveal Himself to me. I know what you're thinking: I'm supposed to be finding myself, not God. But that's the thing with us weirdo Christians; we have to prayerfully wait for God to reveal Himself to us so that we know first and foremost who we belong to. And He did not disappoint. The Hall directors for my dorm decided to do a short book club thing for J-Term. (If you're not familiar with the term, J-term is a three-ish week semester in the month of January, where you can take up to four credit hours or study abroad.) Now, I love books and reading, so I wanted to join one. The assistant hall director, who was in charge of the group I'm in, chose the book "Scary Close" by Donald Miller. In short, it's about intimacy and learning how to be open and trusting in friendships, family, and romantic relationships. To be completely transparent with you, I knew immediately this was the group I needed to choose because trusting people in general is not one of my strengths. What I found as I read through this book, while I don't share a lot of similarities with the author and his life, I realized one thing we have in common: there came a point in both of our lives that we became too careful. For Miller, it was because of new-found his success as a writer. For me, it was trusting people who didn't value me or my writing. I've been hurt so many times by other people for a variety of reasons that I just stopped showing myself and talking about things I'm passionate about. I normally don't like talking to people because, in one way or another, I end up walking away from the conversation with a bruised heart. And I can't do that anymore. In chapter eleven of his book, Miller outlines this "list of new freedoms" after his decision to strive to be himself. All of the things on his list are things I want to work on, too, like being passionate and strong in my beliefs and being okay with the fact that I'm going to be wrong from time to time (list found on page 148 of the book). I encourage you to read "Scary Close." It's given me a new perspective on myself I've never had before. You can find it on Amazon if you click here. You can find Donald Miller on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you tap the underlined social media titles, and I will see you next time! Happy Writing!
0 Comments
If you haven't heard already, I'm back in quarantine for the second time this semester. Yay.
Honestly, it's not that bad. I'm doing all right, staying positive despite the fact I've missed all of my floor's big traditions because of both of my quarantines. My biggest problem right now is lack of motivation, since the semester's almost over and I'm stuck at home for another five or six days. For my peers at school, losing motivation this close to the end isn't uncommon. To help combat this, for myself and for others, I've comprised a short list of things that I do to help me get things done and rebuild my motivation. If you're in the same boat I am, hopefully some of these things I do can help you, too.
These are the big three things that help me get motivated and get things done. These might not work for everyone, so keep that in mind if you decide to try any of my tips out. Let me know how well they worked for you! What are some things that help you when you're lacking motivation? Write them in the comments below, and as always, happy writing! It's National Novel Writing Month, or NaNo WriMo, and I don't know about you, but I feel PUMPED! I've been looking forward to this all year and I'm ready to make progress on one of my WIP's!
That's what I would say if I actually knew what I wanted to work on for November. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and I want to participate in NaNo as much as the next writer. I just don't know what to work on. Plus, I'm in the middle of the hardest stretch of the semester, and between papers coming due, trying to get my grades up in my classes, and who knows what else, I'm afraid I don't have time. Meaning if I want to get things done writing-wise, I need to be smart. Here's my diabolical plan to conquer NaNo and crush school at the same time.
Until next time, happy writing! I don't know about you, but I'm creatively drained.
I enjoy getting content out through my blog and I love working on my different works in progress, and it's not like I haven't written a lot recently. I was a guest blogger on the professional writing department's blog, along with writing for my own. I wrote a new devotion and worked on a couple book reviews, updated my website, not to mention I wrote a complete manuscript over the summer. That's a lot. So why am I having a creative block? If you're hitting the same wall, the first thing you need to do is figure out why you're not particularly motivated. Now, for me, I know it's a combination of a few things:
Now that we have a general idea of what's getting in the way, we can tackle the problem. For me, that's going to be difficult. Anxiety is a big part of my life, and while I know how to cope with it, it can still bog me down. That's where music playlists based off my different manuscripts come in handy, or just taking a break from the story I'm trying to work on for a few days. This might be the key for you, too. There's nothing wrong with a break from the craft. You're the one in control of your writing schedule. Use that to your advantage. I know this is a little different from the last few posts I've written. It's been a topic I've wanted to talk about for a while, and I'm glad I did. Now that I know why I'm having trouble with writing, I can fix it. Honestly, a few days away from writing might be good for me. I hope this is helpful to you, too, or the process I went through, at least. Creative block isn't fun for anyone, but remember you'll pull through eventually. Keep writing! You know the saying, "Image is everything?" Well, whoever coined the term has a point.
Having a sound platform is important, especially if you're a writer starting out. What's a platform? To put it in simpler terms, it's your social media presence, website, and whatever else you use to say, "Hey, look what I do!" It's a crucial thing to have and maintain in the publishing world, but it can also be fun. I have some tips on social media and website building that I want to share to help you strengthen your platform or start building it.
Building and maintaining your platform isn't as hard as it sounds. You just need to take one thing at a time. And you don't have to have all the things mentioned. For someone who's starting out, focus on building your website and either having a professional Facebook page or launching your Twitter account. I hope you all enjoyed and that this information on building your platform helped! If you want me to dig deeper into the importance of some of these social media platforms, what a website should have, or something that isn't mentioned, let me know. I want to answer your questions and cover things I might have missed. The most important thing to remember is to have fun with it. This is one of the fun parts of being a writer in my opinion, and connecting with people through social media is great for building a connection with your future fans and people who could help you out down the road. It's an important step you don't want to miss out on. Until next time. - L.P. I've been in quarantine for the full two weeks now. I'm done! I'm free! I can go places and do things, but I technically can't because I can't drive. Beside the point. But, now that I'm out and have gone through the struggle that is isolation (yes, even introverts can spend too much time alone), I have some general advice from my time at home.
If you find yourself in quarantine and needing encouragement or something positive to focus on (besides your end date), I hope the advice and ideas provided will help you out. I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't think it helped. Do you have any tips for quarantine you want to share? Write them in the comments below! Until next time, friends! One thing that's been beaten into me at Taylor is deadlines are everything. You meet the deadline, you become your publisher's best friend. You miss it, you mess up the publishing chain, which could result in you missing your print date. And no one wants to miss their print date.
Well, I wanted to send my proposal back to the agent I talked about last week by yesterday. I scheduled it out, every fine detail, so that I could get it back in a timely manner. Well, I didn't account for school. And the fact I'm currently in quarantine. Needless to say, I didn't make my deadline. Don't worry: it was a deadline I set for myself. I'm the only person screwed over for missing it. But it still stinks. I feel like I can't hold myself accountable to get things done in a timely fashion. If it's homework or if I'm doing something for someone else, 99% of the time, I get it done on time. (Even with minor procrastination.) But when it comes to me, I can't hold a deadline. Something I've started doing is scheduling out what writing or editing I need to get done by using something called a Gantt chart. While I was taking engineering courses during high school, we talked about Gantt charts, and how engineers use them to schedule out their projects so they don't fall behind. Everything they need to accomplish is on the chart, whether it's a big job or something as simple as creating that chart in the first place. They're helpful, and normally effective. So, I stole that concept and started applying it to my writing. Currently, I have three different charts going: my book proposal (which I extended the deadline to the thirteenth so I can finish editing), editing and re-writing the rest of the first book in the Dynasty River mystery series (finishing by 10/15), and finishing the second draft of book two (finishing by 10/14). Somewhere down the road, I'll be adding re-writing book three and editing book four. I'm not saying I'm going to follow the chart perfectly. I'm human, and also a full-time college student. But I'm training myself for the real world. I even gave myself buffer days in case I really get behind, or really need a break. Scheduling is something that's never going away, so I might as well get a head start on it now. If this is something you want to learn more about or want to see an example of, I'm willing to put together a YouTube video showing how to create a Gantt chart. I find them helpful, and I want to provide other writers with scheduling systems that work. Let me know if that's something that would interest you! Happy Writing! The hardest thing about trying to get my book proposal shaped up is finding time to work on it while getting my course work done.
I just finished my fourth day of my junior year at Taylor University, and I'm so happy to be back on campus and with my friends. One thing I could live without is the homework. I'm only in four classes this semester, which is great. I'm thriving in that respect. And, honestly, I've had busy beginnings to semesters before, and this ISN'T one of them. I just kinda wish I'd gotten edits done on my book proposal before starting school again. In case I haven't said, I've been working on updating and fixing the first book in my Dynasty River Mystery series. I currently have an agent who said it wasn't quite ready yet, but she's willing to look at it again if I make some necessary edits to both the proposal and the book. Great! Awesome! To get those edits done, I made myself a schedule and have given myself a deadline of August 31st to send it back to her. Last week, I did pretty well working on changes and sticking to my schedule. I should have finished editing chapter three and the synopsis and started making changes to the first chapter. Well, this is where I've gotten behind. One of the biggest things I'm trying to work on, whether it's this dreaded proposal or school, is to take every assignment or page of writing as a new opportunity. Instead of saying, "I HAVE to do this assignment," I'm saying, "I GET to work on this chapter and make it better" or "I GET to learn more about [insert subject here]." I'm not saying it's not hard. Are you kidding? Trying to change your way of perceiving something is next to impossible. But it's still possible. So, now that I've posted on my blog, I GET to continue editing chapter three of Dynasty River book one. And you know what, even if I send my proposal back and nothing comes of it, that's okay. Rejections are part of being a writer, and while it sucks, I still need to try. Wish me luck! November is National Novel Writing month, and to celebrate this, the writing community created Nano Wrimo. Nano is like no-shave November but for writers, and instead of not shaving, we're challenged to write a 50,000-word novel over the course of the month.
Now, that sounds like a lot of work for anyone who's not a writer. Believe me, I get that. I know a lot of my friends in my major are doing this on top of their school work, including myself, so we know how you might feel. Another thing about Nano is that you don't have to meet that requirement. You can set your own goal for yourself to reach by the end of the month. For me personally, I want to write at least 50 pages of a manuscript I just started pulling together, finish editing the first Dynasty River Mystery (one of my book series), and finish writing chapters 3-5 of the third draft for that book. Now, that sounds like a lot to do in a month, especially for someone who just started Nano yesterday (November 6) and has a full course load. It's not about setting unrealistic goals; Nano is about getting you writing that book you've been putting off working on. Writing has always been an escape for me. I regretted not doing Nano last year, and the reason I didn't was because I didn't know it was a thing until I got to college. I haven't been in the writing game very long; I've only been writing for 4 years as of October 21st. Now that I'm educated, I plan to take advantage of the opportunity set before me. Do you have something you've been thinking about writing? JUST WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT! Type it up on your computer, write it in a notebook, but for goodness sake, don't let that idea just sit around. I've done that, and it's not fun watching a good idea go stale. This is coming from the girl who started writing in her Algebra II class and found purpose in something she was actually passionate about. You never know. Maybe you'll spark something that could change your life. Just speaking from experience... |
L.P. MetzgerJust a girl with a dream, but you already knew that. Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|