I’m creating many things – and today I share how I’m maintaining momentum along the way.
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash
For the aspiring creators out there, I thought it might be worthwhile to share all that I have going on – and how I’m maintaining my momentum to do so.
I’ve written here in vague, mostly general terms about the types of writing I do – fiction, nonfiction, and business. But I’ve never shared my day and how I keep going between the various works I create.
My primary concern with sharing this is not coming across as bragging or overly self-aggrandizing. But at the same time – I’m very excited about the work I’m doing. So, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share.
Allow me to get into my nonfiction writing (probably 40% of my ongoing process), business writing (probably 25% of my ongoing process), and fiction work (probably the last 35% of my ongoing process).
Maybe I can inspire your ongoing creative process with how I’m maintaining momentum with and through mine.
Maintaining momentum in nonfiction
In 2012, I began weekly blogging. This began with my regular Pathwalking posts on my blog website.
Over time, this evolved to 2, then 3, then 6 posts a week. In addition to blogging on my personal domain, in 2018 I started to write and post on Medium.
Alongside my regular nonfiction blogs – overall covering self-improvement by spanning mindfulness, conscious reality creation, non-toxic positivity, self-awareness, and the like – I self-published a few books connected to and taken from the work I had done with my blogs.
When the pandemic locked the world down all too briefly, I had the opportunity to make writing my true vocation. With that, I settled into a new routine, presenting a range of topics, and posting almost daily.
Currently, I’m blogging 4 days a week. I write about employing genuine, non-toxic positivity on Mondays, ongoing creative process thoughts like this on Tuesdays, Pathwalking mindfulness on Wednesdays, and health, wellness, and wellbeing concepts on Thursdays. Fridays are my podcast aligned with the blog posts – Self-Awareness for Everyone.
Generally, I maintain momentum by writing the day’s blog the day before it posts (though sometimes I write the article that morning for one reason or another). I edit my work, run it through Grammarly, then share it. This schedule has been working well for me for some time.
In addition to my regular posts, I’ve got a new idea for a nonfiction book I’m starting to consider. The title explains it – Redefining Selfishness. The concept is intended to help us all better recognize and distance harmful perceptions of selfishness from self-care.
Hence, there’s plenty of momentum to maintain here.
Writing for business
I have an amazing day job presently. I’m working for a truly incredible entrepreneur. I’m frequently astounded and inspired by her and the many things she does.
Among her enterprises, she has a fashion magazine, a podcast network, a business consulting firm, an evolving Web3 fashion line, and a published book. On top of all that, she has numerous speaking gigs on Web3, the Metaverse, artificial intelligence (AI); and some other projects simmering on various burners.
I have the privilege of being her personal assistant, and in that role hold multiple titles including managing director of the overall enterprise, managing editor of the magazine, and managing producer of the podcast network.
This plays into my strength to pivot between projects that are technical, artistic, administrative. and creative. I’ve begun to help with writing features for the magazine, as well as editing it. I produce several podcasts on the network and write their show notes. And I’m often asked, as her assistant, to write emails and proposals to send out to clients for various projects.
The creative juices are constantly flowing as part of this gig. How I landed such an amazing experience still sometimes boggles my mind. And though there are bits of frustration attached to it – I love what I’m gaining from working with and for this truly amazing creative storyteller.
The work I do here is the most challenging for maintaining momentum because what’s needed of me shifts, when it’s needed varies, and as such it’s more difficult to have a regular schedule around it.
Maintaining momentum with fiction
My first love in storytelling is fiction. Primarily sci-fi and fantasy.
One benefit of the pandemic lockdown was shifting from writing as a pantser with little to no plan – to writing as a planner, laying out ideas in advance and creating stronger plots and more cohesive stories. Much to my surprise, this also paved the way for writing more, faster.
I strive to put out 1500 words a day, minimum, Monday-Friday. After numerous challenges with maintaining accountability with myself to that end, I’m currently doing much better with meeting that goal.
My current project is a sci-fi series called Savagespace. I’ve plotted 6 books in the series – and the first 3 are complete.
Without giving away my plot, this series does something I’ve not seen anyone else do. My aliens are the frequent fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons humanoids – elves, dwarves, orcs, and so on. And not in sense of just their tropes (i.e. Star Trek – Vulcans as space elves, Klingons as space orcs) but the actual races as aliens.
Hence, it’s a little sci-fantasy.
I’m really enjoying writing it – and plotting how and when I’ll share it.
For Savagespace, I’m planning to work with an artist to share images of characters and ships before the books come out. Then, I’m considering releasing books 1-3 together and 4-6 at regular intervals after.
As of this writing, I don’t intend to start publishing Savagespace until I’ve finished all 6 books. That could change.
I’ve also been worldbuilding a new fantasy world. Not sure what that will be called yet, but it’s got enough life that it’s likely to become a full-blown project. I’ve also laid out the basic idea for another sci-fi world.
Maintaining momentum has been easier, I find, with a vague – but still set and intentional – schedule.
You might need to be less vague in your creative process. For example, I recognize that other people need precise set times to do planned projects and their creative work.
I hope that in sharing how I’m maintaining momentum in my ongoing process, you can see that your creative process is equally (and maybe even more) possible and potentially awesome.
Also – if you see what I’m doing and have ideas for maintaining momentum beyond what I’ve shared, feel free to reach out to me and share yours. I’d love to know how others approach these concepts.
Thanks for coming along on this ride!
How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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