Posted in A Moment in My Life

“Not Worth Worms”

A Moment in My Life – Thursday, August 20, 2020


Today is day 20 of the year 2020, which reminded me of 8/8 at 8:00. What about that? I’m glad you asked. I attempted to launch my writing career on August 1, 2019, but a friend suggested that if I began any business on 8/8 at 8:00, my business would be a success. Cool! I want my business to be a success! Okay, then, I shall wait until 8/8 at 8:00 to begin my first fulltime writing day. I was suspicious that that would work, but I had writer’s block for more years than I care to count that I was willing to try anything.  

You can imagine my excitement on 8/8 at 8:00 when I sat down in front of my MacBook and began my fulltime writer’s life. I started my day with a writer’s prompt to get me writing, which it did. It felt good to write again. I had little structure and not much of a plan except to write. A few hours later, I realized that I should set up some business objectives, and I did. I busied myself with whatever I could think of to work on that would advance my business. By the end of my workday, I felt happy that I completed day one. Well, I applied chair glue and worked at my writing life. Doesn’t that count? I know what you’re thinking. My first day doesn’t sound like much happened, and you’re right—but there is always tomorrow! After all, I didn’t have to worry since I started my business on 8/8 at 8:00, and it will succeed!

The next day, I couldn’t get my act together to begin working. I convinced myself to start at 11:00 and write for one hour before my lunch date at noon, and that would be better than nothing. I managed to apply chair glue long enough to do the day’s writing prompt. That was all that I mustered for day two. My lunch date took three hours. I enjoyed it as you could imagine but that killed productivity big time.

I will cut to the chase and not bore you with all the mundane details. The following week my workdays looked a lot like day two. By midweek, I decided to deep clean my house in preparation for my family’s visit in the last week of the month. I told myself I’d resume my writing life after my family’s visit, which never materialized. I lost the momentum that I didn’t have. My life got busier and busier, and that was it. When you are flying solo, you learn how much you have to do. I live my life dealing with tasks by priority, and there are always things waiting for me to do.

 I spent the last year recovering from my status change and recovering from my second heart attack, which caused me to rewrite my life as a whole. I was getting things in order, healing and improving my home, everything, including my wellness. There was one area remaining that I needed to address—my writer’s life. One of the last things Mark said to me was, “If you are going to write, now is the time. Just do it!” 

Fast forward to spring 2020. I was ready and determined to attempt relaunching my writing career. I planned to cancel everything off my calendar and become a hermit to ensure that I did it. Coincidentally, Covid-19 happened, forcing us into Shelter in Place (SiP). I took advantage of this opportunity to work on my productivity. I was a wimp at saying no to social invitations. Thanks to SiP, I didn’t have to say no after all.

On Monday, May 11, 2020, I relaunched my writer’s life. This time, I approached it, not counting on luck, but instead, on a thorough game plan, self-discipline, and hard work. I prepared myself by rising at 6:00 every day to get myself ready like I was going to a real job and do my daily writing before I checked into work at 8:00. I decided I didn’t want to be a writer who wrote 24/7 because I have other things to do, and I love socializing with friends so that I would work 4 hours a day on weekdays. If I get into my writer’s zone, I will write longer, but I will live my life. I treated my work like a job starting with orientation, setting up business spreadsheets, and apps that I would use for work only. I perused my writer’s journal and created storyboards for my story ideas. Then, I was ready to begin writing. All of this prep work during the first two weeks were necessary and wonderful, but until week three, when I started writing, I was sitting on pins and needles worrying. What if I can’t write anymore? What if I’m fooling myself? The only way to find out was to write. I was elated when I completed my first essay that day. 

That wasn’t good enough for me, though, but it was a start. It was a long road back to writing for me. Like an alcoholic, I take it one day at a time. Every day I produce a finished piece, I count my blessings, not luck. Since then, God has blessed me with many written essays that I don’t take for granted. 

Like an alcoholic, I count the days of my success. Today marks week 15, day 4 of living my writer’s dream, and I am forever grateful. I rely on discipline, a solid game plan, hard work, and His blessings. For some people, numerology may be the thing for them, but it isn’t worth worms to me.

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