As a writer, sometimes you finish writing something and look back on it and just say, Ahhhh. You have this sense of glowing happiness that fills your soul when you know you have written something really well.
Many times, this feeling only comes after putting something off for a long time (well, at least for me, but that could be because I put everything off).
Spongebob knows.
As you may or may not know, I have been involved with a scandalous array of novels since realizing I was a writer, always filled with new ideas and never able to sit down and commit to writing just one. Consequently, I never made any significant progress on any of my half-formed, fledgling works. Instead, I would brainstorm a brilliant idea, then forget by the time I actually got to my laptop to write it.
I always had a dream that I would write some great masterpiece before I even finished school then publish it, and it would become the next Harry Potter. There would be no need to job hunt, no need to agonize over my great purpose in life. It would all neatly be taken out of my hands and I would happily go into my dream job, able to support myself as a writer.
He always know.
A some point towards the end of junior year, and much more seriously during senior year, I realized that this dream was, in fact, futile. I also realized that if I ever wanted to be published and become an author, I actually needed to finish a book first. I finally buckled down and began writing seriously on one of my stories. Then, I became distracted by a shiny new book premise, so I tried to write on that for a bit.
I think graduation sobered me. Since I have been out of school, I switched to a book that Word Document informs me I started on April 13, 2010, at 11:23pm. I have doubled the number of pages I previously had, and at this particular moment I find myself at 63,193 words for a grand total of 115 Word Document pages. Guys. I am super impressed with myself. I have actually been doing really well and making myself write every day, and everything has just been coming along. I have actually felt like a real, proper writer lately.
Like, Shakespeare selfie legit.
A few days ago, however, I came to the point where it was time for me to write a very pivotal scene in my novel. It was a really important part that I had been building up to for a long time. It had to be extravagant, dramatic, and intensely emotional. And I just did not want to write it. So I dawdled around, telling myself each night I would get to it.
I put it off for five days. Last night, when I went to take a selfie in the mirror, I no longer spontaneously turned into sexy Shakespeare. I knew it was time to write the scene.
When I finally emerged from my writing fervor, I felt like I had won the writing Olympics.
First place! Awarded by me to me!
When I posted 6 Reasons I Would Make A Really Great Girlfriend last week, I was excited. After I finished writing it, I got that first-place-Olympic-writing feeling. I would say it is my favorite blog post to date. Two days later, after I had received a combined total of 528 views, I realized there was a feeling better than that. It was the feeling that people might actually agree with my assessment of myself.
I admit I have been procrastinating this post. I did not know how to follow up my most successful blog post to date (the number of views from that first day, 323, was more than the previous record number of views in a day from both my blogs combined.) I wanted it to be funny, and live up to the last one. I wanted it to be extravagant, dramatic, and intensely emotional. I wanted it to be equally as successful. Finally I realized how very unlikely that was.
It’s a key to being a writer though, guys.
So instead, I decided to do the proper thing. I decided to say thank you. I cannot express how much it meant to me to know that so many people looked at my blog. It made my day; heck, it made like three of my days. My amazing friend Skye actually pinned that post to Pinterest, and I know a huge amount of people found it that way. Then there were all my friends who shared it on Facebook, or who clicked on my link and read it. Without you guys’ generosity and willingness to help me out, I never would have been able to write my most successful blog post yet. Without you, I would just be an unemployed college graduate, typing away on a Word Document or an empty blog post and occasionally laughing at how funny I think I am, but knowing how lame that is. It’s only when you laugh with me that I get this sense of triumph:
Complete joy.
So thank you, Readers. It means the world.
Now, I will leave you with a map of what I must navigate through before I bring you another post. It is honestly an utterly, 100% accurate representation of my brain. This is also some explanation for why I go so long without writing at times.
It’s a hard road.
Boots and Cats 