Hello everyone! I hope this week is seeing you well. I find myself to be rather tired, but somewhat more awake than yesterday, so I'm going to count this as a win so far. I have been working on getting high-quality scans of the cards done and this is not a process I am mentally equipped for. Mostly because I mostly work with the physical, not in digital art, so there's a lot of the 'I have no idea what I'm doing' moments. So let's not talk about that right now!
I am still editing, and as all know what my feelings on that process are. The important part, and it is incredibly difficult for some people, is to keep on going, so today's topic is going to be on perseverance. Writing is a long process, even the shortest story can take months or even years to actually complete. The time necessary is sometimes the most difficult part for a would-be author, and not just because making that must time in an already busy life is going to be a challenge. I've talked before about taking things once step at a time because frankly looking up at that wall and trying to figure out how to climb it is daunting. This is very similar to it, but it focuses more on what to do when you're actually moving forward.
Remember it's slow. No matter how fast you type, think, or read, you need to remember that the process of getting a story finished/published is not going to go as quickly as you want. It takes time, patience, and a lot of effort and love. There will be points when you look at your project and think to yourself that you should have been done a long time ago. For some just that thought will be enough to put it all away into a dark corner they no longer have to look at. If you are tempted to do this you need to tell yourself that it is a start of a dangerous cycle. Remember the whole problem you're having is how much time it's taking to get done, and not working on it at all is going to make that all the more worse. At that point when you pick it up again, the same thoughts will run through your mind and the same thing will happen. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.
Whenever I work on my editing, the easiest way for me to do it (aside from letting someone else do it for me, but for some reason no one wants to do it) is to have a copy printed and put into a binder. That way I don't have to worry about losing my place, since the last page I was on is where the bright pink ink stops, and there no concern about leaving the file open and my laptop deciding it needed to update RIGHT NOW. The problem that comes with this method is the visual of just how far you've gotten and how much more you have to go. It will seem like it's never going to be finished, but you have to keep going. I know it's hard, and irritating, and editing is extremely difficult because you have to rip apart something that you worked so hard on, but this is all part of the process. Make yourself a goal to give yourself some kind of treat when you finish, don't make it a race or anything, but just say something like 'when I finish this, I'm going to get ice cream' or whatever makes it so you can actually finish.
Goal setting is a great motivator to make it seem like things aren't so ridiculous. Set benchmarks and stick to them, because frankly this is a process you're doing for the love of it, and making it feel like a chore is only punishing yourself. The thing you should be is doing is praising yourself for being awesome. You're writing a book, not everyone can do that, so there's no reason to make yourself feel like junk while doing it. Keep it up no matter how hard it seem or how never-ending everything looks; it'll get done, but only if you keep at it.
Thanks everyone for coming by again today. I'll be back on Friday so I hope all of you have a really fun rest of your week. Once I have everything ready I'll send a link to whatever album I put together for those cards for whoever might be interested. For now though, I'll wish you all a good day!
No comments:
Post a Comment