The Write Advice

I have had some things rolling around in my head
and I decided to try and capture some of them like you would a butterfly

and put them into the cage of an article and hang it on a cyber hook
so others can come in and look at it.
I feel like writing it down publically in my blog will somehow be a catalyst for proactive results.

0. What Is This Ramiling Is All About?

This is a post giving you the reader advice about writing.
This is good if your a fellow writer.
If your not a writer I think the same principles that apply to the writer in his writing life
can equally apply to others in other aspects of their life.
So you might get something out of this if you read it regardless of where you are in life and what your doing.

1. What’s Holding You Back?

What’s keeping you from writing that book or article you’ve been dreaming about for ions?

Is there a  serious sin, defect or personality problem  you have to root out of your life, like dressing up as a clown and scaring little children just for kicks?
Or some tragedy or set of bad circumstances you can’t control like a killer cyborg has come from the future to kill your mother so you won’t be born?
Or some health problems that causes enough problems or pain that might be a natural barrier that prevents you from succeeding
like consistent insomnia and the sleep center you took the sleep study with still hasn’t called you about that CPAP machine they said they were going to set you up with?

But perhaps it is something that is a little more in your control.
Like a pattern of bad or mundane habits that’s keeping you stuck in a moment you can’t get out of.

I want to pray more but instead I find some other reason to do something else.
Something that gives instant gratification like a fast food restaurant instead of a place where you are waiting 30 minutes to get the better meal.

I want to read more but I keep listening to random Youtube videos instead of listening to that audio book I can get for free from the library.

I want to pay attention to my wife more or call friends I haven’t heard from in awhile
Or actually focus in more when I watch movies or TV Shows
or do whatever interesting and creative things there are to do.

Photo by jessicahtam

But instead I feel overwhelming compelled to get that high that comes from looking at Twitter of Facebook.
The time you could be writing is instead committed to seeing what your social media friend is posting about.
Well just stop looking at social media then.
Problem solved.

If I just stop browsing I just go into my room turn on my fan and just lay there and do nothing
cause my brain feels too fried and unable to light up with thoughts.
The bottom line is that I want to do this or that but find reasons not to.

I sit awaiting inspiration and onfire desire to spark up in me
propelling me onto greatness.
And I wait.
And it doesn’t come cause it’s stuck in traffic.

2. What Are You Waiting For?

I’ve started several writing projects.
Some are sitting in my Patheos Draft Folder.
Some are hiding in my brain.
I think I need to gather more info to make them more complete and interesting.
I’m waiting to make them more acceptable and perfect.

Do I want to take the time and commitment to making them better or
do I accept them where they are?

If I published an unfinished idea it will come out falling flat and looking lame and give me shame.
On the other hand if I wait to long they might never see the light of day and stay hiding in their cave.

I have other things I want and need to do.
I have a friend I said I would arrange to get together with.
I haven’t called my sister in a long long time.
I have some online classes I want to take.
I want to restart my hobby of creating and making videos.
I want to perhaps make a podcast.

But I’m waiting for that perfect motive and feeling to jumpstart my gears for moving.
That feeling I realize reasonably may never appear and stay hidden in the secret crevesus of my brain
till I decide to kick the can.

Sometimes you just have to grab your surfboard and jump in the waves.
Sometimes you have to venture down the step free fall waterslide and take the plunge.
You got to take that first step whether or not your sure your shoe is on tight enough or not.

3. How Bad Do You Want It

In the past I have collected various Terrific Twitter quotes
assembled them in one particular post and shared them with the world.
I thought of doing that again and realized that it would be too much work to do.
It would take time to go back and reread them all and sort through them
separating the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the chaff.

Icona �@iconawrites (May 8, 2023)
The opening pages of LOTR are so funny. There are Hobbits sharing gossip and gardening tips at the inn. Bilbo is receiving parcels and organizing his birthday party. You expect this to be a cozy mystery. You could never, ever see the rest of the story coming.

I always say we need a cozy Hobbit mystery series. Who ate all the pies? Who has been stealing the big cabbages? Our pipe-puffing Hobbit detective investigates, but the suspects won’t answer a question without first recounting the whole family history of their third cousin.

If you have an idea for a project how committed are you to actually doing it?
How much time to you want to devout to relentlessly researching for a particular essay or story?
What are willing to change to make it happen?
What are you willing to give up or sacrifice to achieve your dreams?
Your answer to that question will determine whether or not a dream of yours becomes reality or not.

How bad do you want it?
Not bad enough-Don Henley 

“Every athlete who has pushed beyond his or her known limits of endurance in the quest for improvement understands these sentiments. There is no experience quite like that of driving yourself to the point of wanting to give up and then not giving up. In that moment of “raw reality,” as Mark Allen has called it, when something inside you asks, How bad do you want it?, an inner curtain is drawn open, revealing a part of you that is not seen except in moments of crisis. And when your answer is to keep pushing, you come away from the trial with the kind of self-knowledge and self-respect that can’t be bought.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle

4. Acceptance of Where You Are

I’m not a famous author or magazine writer.
I don’t have 7.1 Million followers on Twitter like Stephen King.

Stephen King@StephenKing (Jul 22, 2023)
August: The only month without a holiday.
Deal with it.

I don’t have 220K followers on X like Owl at the Library

Owl! at the Library ��‍♀️@SketchesbyBoze (July 10, 2023)
when Ray Bradbury said “Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds,” and “Look closely at everything. Don’t be a snob. Be joyful; writing is not a serious business—it’s a celebration,” he had it exactly right.

I have 169 Followers on Twitter now X.
I could have more, less or none at all.

Mark “The Catholic Bard”@fom4life (July 24, 2023)
My consistent prayer is Jesus I love you. Have mercy on me a sinner

One thing to achieve peace in your writing or in other endeavors
while your still strolling around this giant floating rock
going around the huge ball of gas we call the sun,
is acceptance of your place in the greater scheme of things.

Not everyone is meant to be a big influencer in culture, society or history.
It’s good to be content with where you are in your level of reach.
It’s not wrong to seek to widen your audience, but if it’s not meant to be,
be happy with where you are.
Try to make a difference with the community and family that you are apart of.
That might be enough.

5. Conclusion

In writing or in life

1. Find out what is holding you back from achieving that goal you want to pursue.
2. What set of circumstances or feelings are you waiting for before you begin?
3. How bad do you want to pursue your goals? What will you sacrifice or risk to do them?
4. Do you accept the results of your achieved goals whether big or small?

Some writing advice from the writer O’Henry I found somewhere online
that you can apply to other areas of life or even prayer or meditation or study.

You can’t write a story that’s got any life in by sitting at night at a writing table and thinking.
You’ve got to get out into the streets into the crowds talk with people and Feel the Rush and throb of the real.
That’s the stimulant for a story writer.