I can’t remember where I first came across the following quote (and a quick search online didn’t help me either), but it had a big impact on my thinking:
“If you see something you think someone should do something about, you’re just as much someone as anybody else.”
It points to the fact that if we don’t like something we should just do something about it. It is a little annoying because sometimes I just want to complain about stuff. Ha!
The Writer Room Ripple Effect
A similar resistance showed up for me this past week when I was gaining more clarity around how I wanted to proceed creatively. In my last post, I mentioned that I shifted my room/office to be more expressive of my writerly-ness.
That, in turn, caused my mind to increase its focus as well. I could see that there were other areas in my life (especially online) where I had the same sort of convolutedness as I saw in my room pre-adjustment.
When Action Is the Answer (Even If You’d Rather Write)
I could also see that it would take quite a bit of work to get it adjusted (such as rebuilding/reorganizing websites and such) – time that would be taken away from constructing the books currently in my creative pipeline. I mulled it over longer than I should have.
I realized I had to take action, though, because I could see that taking care of these things now would allow me to grow more unfettered in the future. It would be better to get it all more closely aligned with my writerly-ness now than confuse people when I changed up stuff later (because change would be inevitable).
So, that’s what I’ve been doing these past few days. Thankfully, it has been going better than I expected. I still have work to do, but I know I am heading in the right direction.
The benefits of heading in the right direction is the gift of new book ideas popping up in my mind like perfect little saplings in a garden. Gotta continue keeping the weeds managed. Gotta get back to work…
I remember back in late 2023, I was talking to my Write on Purpose Coach, W. Bradford Swift, when I became clear that while I often talked about writing, I hadn’t made it a dominant part of my life.
On our video chats, I noticed that Coach Brad had a bookshelf full of his books behind him. In contrast, the shelf behind my desk held various things that I made and my books were stashed away in a cubby out of sight. Nothing wrong with that except that I wanted writing to be a dominant part of my life and my environment was not reflecting that.
A shift was in order.
Becoming the Writer (Visibly)
Inspired by uncovering my purpose in writing (to write enjoyable stories that cause young readers to imagine and experience new and expansive ideas), I took on becoming the person that would fulfill that purpose. I wanted anyone that looked at my desk area and shelf to know that I was a writer.
At the time, I only had two books published, “The Secret in Bladham Wood” and “Hope & Josie Go to the Prom” (co-written with a friend of mine). They didn’t take up much room on my shelf, so I took a few spare copies of my Bladham novel and covered them with mock-covers of books that I had already started and wanted to finish.
I couldn’t help but notice them every time I walked over to my desk and seeing them always made me smile. It helped me want to finish them even more.
That was late 2023, and now in early 2025, I have completed and published three of those books: “The Resurrection Incident”, “Sentenced”, and “Goddess Game.” (The illustrated stories have been written and storyboarded, but sidelined for the moment).
The Power of Visual Identity
It feels like quite an accomplishment, as I had started them all around 2012-13 and there was no completion in sight.
I highly recommend a coach if you’re having trouble seeing why and how you’re holding yourself back.
Now that I have all that experience under my belt and new ideas, I’m not as intimidated as I once was to start and actually finish a book. I mean, I still have moments like “I have no idea where this is even going, how can I commit to finishing it!”, but then I recalibrate back to the person with a purpose, and I get on with it. (I don’t mean to make that sound super easy. I definitely still squirm a bit before I get back to work.)
Shifting Space, Shifting Self
Since my husband and I moved last year, I’ve been writing and I’ve also become a Sheila of multiple trades. My room/office has been filled with many wonderful supplies and tools.
I love having access to all these things AND I realized this past week that it did not reflect my writerly-ness.
When we first moved in, I had thought I might have a corner of the room dedicated to cozy reading or even meditation. Instead, in last year’s burst of exploratory growth, every nook and cranny was filled with “making things.”
A room is a bit more challenging than shifting around a bookshelf, but I took on rearranging it to be more aligned with where I want to be in life. The “making things” have been organized and stuffed into the closet (I will be spending time at a later date crafting some of my supplies down to a more manageable amount).
The end result: I have a corner cleared and ready for a comfy chair and blanket.
The Creative Center
The change feels right.
It feels aligned with my spirit, which wants to do everything (for sure), but mostly wants to write stories and enjoy stories.
That has to be the centerpiece. I’ll fit the rest in around that. 😊
I’m pretty excited about that and a bit nervous. I imagine this feeling is similar to seeing your child up on stage, about to perform their part in the school play and, while you’ve done what you can to prepare them, you don’t know 100% how it is going to go. I’m proud of the book regardless of how well it does. But, of course, I want it to do well and for folks to enjoy it!
So… Where Did the Idea Come From?
I wanted to use today’s post to reveal the origin of Goddess Game. For most of my stories, the origins are memorable and I could tell you exactly when I had the idea and what it was spawned from. This one was not so easy for me to pin down.
I have a folder for Goddess Gamewhere I have consolidated various beginnings and writing explorations about the story. I went into that folder, trying to jog my memory. I was surprised to see that I had a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) file from 2012 where I had started to write this story. It was quite different at that time. Bethany was called Denise. She was a data analyst, and, while there was a similar grocery store scene at the beginning, she and the love interest ended up working together at the same company.
I also found a NaNoWriMo file where I made another attempt to write it in 2017. In both these years, I did not get very far with it. The idea endured, though, and when I was looking at my half-finished writing projects and making a plan to complete them, this one stood out as a fun story to put higher up on the “to do” list.
Tracing the Creative Thread
Because I had the NaNoWriMo file from 2012, I decided to go back to my 2012 morning pages and see if I could zero in on where this idea originated. I didn’t really find the exact answer there (and ended up in a rabbit hole of old writings!), but it did stir up some memories about it.
Around 2011 or 2012, I had been attempting to co-write a book with a friend of mine. One of the ideas that I offered up was a character that realized she could write her own life. I know, I know – that’s not a particularly novel idea. At the time, I thought it was. However, we didn’t end up writing a book together, and this “character writing her own life” idea started to grow into a story in my psyche.
I started to imagine an arrogant goddess, thinking she could be born into human form and easily see through the distractions of life and master it. She imagines that she would craft and experience a perfect love story. Except, she falls victim to the same pitfalls we all do and ends up living a mundane life.
Later, that concept became a bit more nuanced. The idea of the arrogant goddess faded away and it became a story of Bethany. She has a supernatural gift that she has used to stay safe, not realizing that safety has kept her from all the joy she dreamed of experiencing in life.
What Goddess Game Is Really About
The underlining message is that we are all creators of our own life. We just have to be willing to do the (sometimes uncomfortable) work that activates our inner power.
Writing Bethany’s story certainly caused me to look at areas in my life that I am holding myself back. These days I am clearer about my goals and what I need to do to reach them and even move beyond them into bigger goals. As Brian Johnson points out in his book Arete, we can nudge ourselves infinitely forward by asking and acting on two questions:
What do I want?
Now what do I need to do?
I want to write more books and reach more people to read and enjoy them!
I stepped inside a physical library for the first time in probably six years this past week. I was quite stunned when I realized that it had been that long.
Sure, I’ve checked out books through Overdrive, but I have not stepped into a building. Whew! Why?
Many folks might be thinking that it was the pandemic that caused me to stop showing up in person, but that is not the case at all. Something else happened six years ago that (I feel) began to change me:
The Life Detour: Becoming a Park Ranger
In 2019, I was hired as a Park Ranger. In 2020, I went through six months of training at the police academy and became a sworn officer (which is required in the state where my park was located). I loved so much about that job and was quite happy about it. I got to live in the park, work in the woods, and help people.
The downside to that was that the energy I expended as an introvert interacting with people throughout the day caused me to want to basically hibernate when I was off duty. It’s not that I never left the house when I was off duty, but I didn’t really have to very much. My husband generally picked up what we needed on his way home from work. It was pretty much an introvert’s dream, really.
Moving, Transitioning, Reconnecting
When we moved to South Carolina in 2024, and I had to go out to change my driver’s license and other in-person necessities, I realized that it felt a little weird mingling with people again as a civilian.
After the move, I was busy the rest of 2024 building the framework to support my writing and creative goals. This year is shaping up to be more about reconnecting with the world in the ways that are most meaningful for me. That started last week with the library.
My Library Card Moment
I finally realized that I would need to go into my local library to get a membership, even if I still chose to check out books through Overdrive. I made the awesomely-short distance to the building, signed up for my library card, and then stood in awe of the many, many books. It was the most natural thing to begin roaming the aisles and gazing up in joy at the towering shelves filled with the labor and love of so, so many creatives.
I was limited to checking out three books on my first day.
I checked out three books.
I will be back for more.
When Was the Last Time You Went to the Library?
Are you a library regular or a returning wanderer like me? Have you had a “reconnection moment” recently that brought back something joyful? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Let’s keep finding our way back to what feeds us. One overdue adventure at a time.
For 2023 and 2024, I was finishing up writing a book at the end of the year. For 2023, the book was “The Resurrection Incident.” This year, I completed “Goddess Game.” It’s kinda cool that I have done that two years in a row, but I’m thinking I would prefer to use the last quarter of the year in future to outline and plan book projects for the upcoming year and maybe focus on direct sales. Might be a sweet experiment for next year!
Year-End Reflections & Routines
I know it’s cliché, but I do enjoy a fine rumination at the end of the year, reflecting on what worked and didn’t and making those glorious plans for the future. It’s a little dangerous and I can easily stay in the thrill of imagining all the things and forget to shift into the necessary doing.
I’ve learned a lot in 2024 about how I create, how to organize my time to get projects done, and the habits I can continue to tweak to help me achieve my goals consistently and with more energy to carry over to the next project.
2025: Superpowers Activated
For 2025, I feel like I am going into the new year with superpowers activated. I still have much to learn (and won’t I always?), but I have a confidence that I have not experienced before.
I’m focused on making life better and better and expressing that in the various ways that I enjoy: writing, drawing, crafting, music
It seems like in the past I didn’t think I could dare allow myself to feel capable if I wasn’t perfect at something. Now I know life is always an ongoing journey and I will get better at whatever I focus on. And that’s the same for all of us, which is so very cool.
