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Working Words From Different Angles
My main focus might be fiction, but it’s not my only focus.
At the end of 2011, following a desire to get back to writing on a more regular basis, I made my first-ever New Year’s Action. I set a day that I would write a blog post every week.
I’d been a writer on and off for most of my life. I had a couple of complete books that had been rejected by multiple agents. Taming words into new shapes, expressing ideas, and telling stories, was still my greatest passion.
From this, I began to blog once a week, then twice a week, and at one point, this became 6 days a week. Along with regular blogging, I started to put more time and energy into fiction. After getting a short fantasy story published in a pirates and magic anthology, I started writing with greater passion and persistence.
Dipping a toe into the expanding domain of self-publishing in 2013, I put out the first year’s worth of my Pathwalking weekly blog. Emboldened by that, I started to do more and more self-publishing. By 2020, I was writing and publishing multiple books a year.
I reduced my blog postings from 6 to 3 a week (but flirted with a fourth for a while). Now, these are more focused, featuring Positivity and Pathwalking on my original blog site (and Medium) on Mondays and Wednesdays, and thoughts on writing, art, creativity, and related business elements on my author website on Tuesdays.
That written, while I’ve been mostly focused on fiction for my books, I’m considering a new angle for more nonfiction.
Fiction, nonfiction, and accountability
When the opportunity presented itself for me to write full-time, I knew I needed to have accountability. Specifically to myself. I created a whiteboard checklist of activities to do daily. Among these is writing 1500 words of fiction.
In 2024, I first accounted for a full year of tracking my metrics. As part of my business, and the time I work, I track activities Monday through Friday. Authorpreneurs need weekends and a work/life balance, too!
Even though I finished multiple books, I still only reached my weekly goal of writing 1500 words of fiction a day 36 percent of the time.
Though 2025 has a month to go, I’m fairly certain I’ve exceeded last year’s percentage of daily writing. And that accounting is strictly regarding fiction. I don’t count the often one-thousand-word blogs I write 3 days a week.
Still, I keep a deadline for all three. Every Monday through Wednesday without fail. As of this writing, that’s included Positivity on Mondays for 615 consecutive weeks (11.8 years) and Pathwalking on Wednesdays for 726 consecutive weeks (13.9 years). I haven’t been as diligent about tracking my creativity/ongoing process blogs, but this incarnation was started in January of 2021 (ergo, nearly 5 years).
Why am I sharing this? Because I’m now considering producing some new nonfiction in book form, beyond the blogs. And this is part of me considering accountability to myself for that.
Working words from different angles
Why am I considering adding this work to my schedule? Because I look at the world around me and see a lot of hurt. People are being disempowered, kindness and compassion are being treated like the enemy, and as part of my love of service, I feel that maybe I should share what I’ve been blogging about with a broader audience.
All three blogs are cut from the same cloth. My personal philosophy and holistic approach to life, the universe, and everything. The words I write regularly about mindfulness, conscious reality creation, self-awareness, wellness, choices and decisions, can serve everyone.
While I can’t influence or impact the big picture on a grand scale, I can reach out to individuals by presenting something I think they might desire to use to find and/or create improvements in their lives.
As an artist, my goal is to empower and inspire people. Even in my fiction, my characters frequently reflect that in who they are and what they do. This all ties to my belief that the meaning of life is simply TO LIVE. Hence, to experience. Good or bad, up or down, amazing or awful, and everything in between.
Hence, my thoughts on working the words from different angles. Taking a new stab at the nonfiction world and adding a voice to help guide the collective consciousness from fear and irrationality to logic and reason. I think that the more beacons we put out in the world, the more we chase away the fear-mongerers, the greedy, and the unkind and uncompassionate.
Words matter
I’ve been striving for years now to be extra mindful of the words I speak, the words I write, the words I think. This can often be incredibly challenging, but it’s always worthwhile.
For example, there’s a reason why I regularly choose the word “desire” rather than “want”. Want leans more desperate and negative, where desire is more assured and positive.
If I can inspire and/or empower anyone, if I can awaken a burgeoning imagination, when I do something directly or indirectly that leads to an “Ah-HAH!” moment – that’s my joy. This is what I most desire to share with the world.
I’m imperfect. I fuck this up frequently. And don’t even get me started on how crazy my brain weasels tend to drive me. But I believe that what I have to share should be shared. So, I’m considering working words from different angles and seeing what that produces.
So, what might this look like? Here’s the working title in my head: Mindfulness on Mondays: Ideas and Inspirations to Make Conscious Choices and Decisions to Drive Your Life. This sparks something in me, and I think I need to pursue it further. Any thoughts?
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own authentic creator, whatever form that takes?
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