Thursday, August 13, 2009

Just Do It

I want you to know I have been working very hard this summer. And even though the sun is shining and I'm sure there is the perfect shell on the beach with my name on it, I am up here in my study, working away.

Here is Winston's version of working hard:
Asleep on the Dick & Jane bed

Here is what gets my brain working hard:
Oh-la-la -- drinking cafe au lait from these orange bowls!

I love my friend, Ann Whitford Paul, but I wish she wasn't right all the time. In an e-newsletter she sent out a while back, she pointed out that sometimes projects look big and complicated but once we actually stop complaining about them (my words) and get to work, they aren't so bad.

In June, I had no confidence at all I could create a 30-35,000 word manuscript by September. I was doing more than my fair share of whining and complaining. Yesterday, I typed the 24,031th word. All because I stopped listening to myself fuss and got writing.

Last night, I walked with Winston on the beach. We came upon this large, slick boulder that was a smell magnet for him. I tried to explain that he was too little, that the stone was too big and too slick to climb, and that dogs aren't really built for rock climbing.

He didn't listen to a word I said.
Sir Hillary Winston

Which is why he accomplished his goal.

4 comments:

  1. So awesome Kirby. You sure have wise friends like Winston and Ann. This is very inspiring and relevant for me. Just what I need to hear to get over my silly self.

    Thank you.

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  2. I'm going to use you as inspiration and get my DSN done.

    That Ann is always right, isn't she?

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  3. This is just what I need to hear. Tomorrow I start revising a novel that really, really, really needs help. But it's just a little bit at a time, right?

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  4. Glad this inspired you, Ben, Linda and Martha. And it is a little bit at a time. The other trick I've learned (for me) is that once I have a general idea of where I'm going, I don't have to write a book in order. I can work on Chapter 14 before I work on Chapter 4. For some reason, that also helps trick my mind out of being freaked out at the thought of writing a NOVEL, which can be a scary thing.

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