What do you do every day?
Dream job?
You’d die for your job?
Me neither! That was until just over a year ago when I reached my personal low.
At that point, I boarded a Greyhound with my laptop and some clothes. South-bound and down, not loaded up and bussin, I’s gonna do what they say can’t be done. The world’s next bestseller was at my fingertips.
Wearing my sunglasses–because my future’s so bright–don’t ya know–I hadta wear shades–I carried my suitcase into the bus depot; I’d never even traveled by bus and didn’t know what to expect, so I was a tad intimidated. However, it’s something I’d always wanted to do–write and ride. I was en route to write that breakout novel, expecting to make me millions. That novel was going to pay for a house in the Bahamas, and . . .
Well, 15 months later, I’m still broke and still in the tropical paradise known as Michigan.
They always say the first million is always the hardest; boy, is that ever true. Alas, my friends. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
In 1 1/3 year as a “full-time” writer, I spent nearly half that time without writing, editing, marketing, or promoting a single word. Instead, I spent about seven months umpiring baseball, daily–living the . . . “dream?” (That’s sarcasm, Sheldon! I love to umpire.)
During the dedicated “writer months,” I kinda kicked butt. I wrote 2/3 of the Vows Trilogy, (two novels, Violent Vows and Vows of Vengeance) three novellas, (two under a pen name) and a couple of short stories. (The Note & Faith) Just looking at my writing today shows how archaic I was as a writer, editor, marketer, researcher, etc, merely months ago. When we humans buckle down and take steps to what we really want in life, we can surprise ourselves—I know I have!
The next time you reach for a glass or keys or anything, remember something. What you’re doing is all it takes to turn your dreams into reality. To grab that soda can, that remote, whatever, you first had to open your fist. Reaching with a closed fist proves useless–impossible, even. Without even thinking about it, you separated one finger at a time, exposing your palm and freeing your fingers to retrieve.
Closed-fist rationale carries most of us through the repetitiveness of everyday life. We’re completely content with only thinking we could have more. Fear of falling off of our perch of contentment prevents most of us from opening our fists.
There’s nothing wrong with being content. However, if contentment isn’t your goal, STOP b*tching about life!
Toss away that fear of failure, and grab what’s yours. Expect nightmarish bumps during your dream pursuit, but until you cast your fears aside, your lifetime dreams are forever closed. . . . much like a fist.
The choice is yours.
Open your fist!
authormarkelswick's Blog 