Grow Your Writer Grit...

 

Remember back…

When your parents made you do some back-breaking chore that was dirty and awful and boring, and you felt was a complete waste of time, but to get your allowance, you kept that verbal goodie to yourself, and did it anyway?

Remember less far back…

When a university prof made you do a pathetically meaningless assignment, and made it into a compulsory group project (ugh), and you faked smiled at your team, dug in, became the group leader, assigned chores, to get that pissy project done and dusted in lightning speed?

Remember yesterday…

When you woke up, feeling like crap — a Covid side contagion more virulent these days than the coronavirus itself — and you couldn’t even force yourself to look at your laptop, much less write on that endless book of yours?

So, today, I ask…

What happened to your Grin & Bare It Grit?

• You had it when you were 8.
• You had it when you were 18.
• Where did you put it at 28, 38, 48, and 58?

I hate to dent the romantic notion newbie writers have about full time writing… (but I will, you know I will…) a writing career has more to do with digging ditches in a cold rain than it has to do with sun-kissed beaches and smoking jackets worn by a crackling fire.

The digging is daily. The mind exhaustion is daily.

It’s mind-breaking, clumsy work, whereby you spill truckloads of prosaic crap onto the page to discover a few good gems.

And even when you finish a work, you’re never finished. The world always demands the next book from you that you haven’t even started yet.

And accolades maybe years in the achieving, kind of like when Tom Hanks was forced to do Faberge shampoo commercials before being a superstar. And the odds of you and your work going from Tom Hanks Zero to Zenith aren’t even looking that good.

As a kid, you knew hard work had its own reward. By age 8, you knew patience was indeed a virtue.

So, I ask you…

Where is your growing grit around being a writer?

You know writing is beyond hard.

You know you’ll screw up, learn, grow, and screw up some more.

But is there anything more satisfying than to have weathered that literary storm, and come out the other end better than whole?

If you answer, "No, there isn’t," then you need to find a way to grow that grit you’ve had in you since you weeded your mom’s garden, and those bloody dandelions came back the next day, twice as big.

Some things in life are just plain back-breaking, and they get you frustrated, and they put you down in the muck and mire, fighting tooth and nail to make prosaic goo read great.

But…

What would you do, that would satisfy you more, if not write? All that avoiding activity you're doing right now is making you feel worse. How 'bout trying to write, and feel better?

HOMEWORK: Go have a shower. Put on some fightin’ clothes. Brew a pot of strong tea or coffee. Plunk yourself down at your desk, INHALE DEEPLY, and get in that ring, ready to word rumble! And do all this NOW. No. not tomorrow. NOW.

Nobody, especially me, ever said being a writer would be a trip. And if it were, you’d end up being in the Slow Lane on the Scenic Tour from Hell for the foreseeable future. It’s just part and parcel of the fight to be a great artist. There’s your cup of reality. Go sup.

• Weeding the lawn.
• Digging a ditch.
• Washing dishes by hand ‘cause the dishwasher broke.
• Mopping floors.
• Washing walls.
• Scrubbing toilets.
  
• Writing your book

Right? Am I right?

You know I'm right.

 This is Gary Grit. he has it goin' on...

Necessity, the Mother of Get Off Your Butt and Do the Work!

 

Yes. We all know that's not the correct adage... but it should be.

When push comes to shove, when something occurs outside your control that affects your security, that's usually when humans sit up, take notice, stop naval-gazing, and get to work to better their status.

No one alive has not been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many have been laid off from their jobs, or their jobs ceased to exist, and yes, this is a seriously grave outcome. 

But that negative can give birth to a positive. 

With extra time at home to think, such circumstances can force a person to re-evaluate their worth, their prospects, and what productive work they've been putting off to better their quality of life.

And one of those delayed To-Dos may have been finishing a book to offer the world as an evergreen, salable product.

It's in this very moment in time when you can find yourself at a crossroads...

• Do I remain a passive income earner? i.e. go on Employment Insurance and wait to be hired by another company, doing work I can barely tolerate, and count the days until I'm laid off again.
  
• Do I take charge of my life and work to gain an active income source I control? i.e. start my own business, offering my own products and services.

As there has been a Renaissance Movement and an Industrial Revolution, and then the Technological Age, maybe now humanity has entered the Gig Economy, where workers, for the first time, can take control of their economic futures. The pandemic has forced us all to take account of our own security and get the work done to bolster that security.

This post could be about any product or service, but it's especially critical when considering starting and finishing that book you've had in the back of your mind for years, if not decades, that if you only put in the work, you could become an income earner for the rest of your life.

• Have you something better to do today than work on that book you stared and abandoned? 
• Can you take time out of your pandemic days to finally formulate an evergreen product that offers infinite income? 

1. Oh, right. There's those video game playing hours and social media scrolling chores.
2. And you're down a quart on your meme postings. 
3. And then there's cleaning your house for company that cannot yet be invited over because of the pandemic.

Whatever you think you need to do today, can wait, or better yet, eliminated from your life altogether, so you can start to invest in your own future.

HOMEWORK: take one lousy hour, any time in the next 24, and for however many days are needed, and CHOOSE to devote it to your future, and finish that book. One lousy hour a day, to work for yourself, for your own security, not for the security of CEOs of companies you couldn't care less about nor will support you when the going gets rough.

You have life skills and knowledge others need. Like right now. Today. 

You haven't got where you are without gathering a basket full of good offerings. 

Step away from your cell phone and spend one hour per day writing on that book. No. More. Excuses. The world may never give you a better opportunity.