I’m on the right track.

                  Or at the very least it feels that way. Something about creating this blog has been a motivation to show up every day and reach my goal. I have a word count goal set, but for the most part I’ve been ignoring that and just aiming for a noticeable change in the number so when I post for anyone reading this, they can see there is growth.

                  I also just feel balanced. This will likely shift, and I’ll feel frazzled and hair-brained again but as for right now, it feels very nice.

                  Now, I didn’t read this before starting this blog. It was really more the fact that I already owned the eBook (I have a buying problem if I’m being honest. I check the daily deals page on Kobo’s website more often than I should and far faster than I can keep up with in terms of actually reading). But I finished Austin Kleon’s “Show Your Work” and it was a pretty awesome read. It’s short, sweet, and super easy to digest. And most importantly, not a boring nonfiction book that I couldn’t for the life of me get through!

                  There have been many a purchase in an attempt to convince myself I was a nonfiction reader…very few have genuinely caught my interest long enough for me to finish. One of the only other ones was about dolphins. Because obviously.

                  To summarize, Kleon tells his reader to do exactly what the title says. It’s broken up into 10 chapters, each one diving into a specific topic pertaining to sharing your work and building an audience. He writes in chapter 3 that “Overnight success is a myth.” Which in retrospect, he’s right. If we look at mega successful writers who blew up seemingly at random, you’ll actually see the years in between their books becoming mainstream, and when they actually published. Not to mention the years prior to any readers getting their hands on those said books.

                  Let’s take Twilight for example (I told you I was a Twilight girl, and I am willing to die on this hill). Stephanie Meyer published Twilight September 27^th, 2005 (that was a weird revelation to come to, wow) and the first film was released in 2008. This was when I personally became aware of the series and when many people started reading the series too. I can say this because I lived through it, but production companies were having a field day picking books up off the shelf and adapting them. Although I’m sure the books had some type of success prior to a production company picking it up, it’s still the fact that two years went by, with Meyer most definitely putting a lot of work in, before the series became what it was. And now it has a cult following.

                  Two years. And that doesn’t account for how long it took her to write the first book, edit it, find an agent, sell it to a publisher…. edit again! So many things that likely took years. It’s a process, and a dang long one. Although I’m likely to self-publish, it’s still a long process that now falls entirely on my shoulders.

                  Kleon also says to “Focus on days.” Which is really helpful. Looking at a successful author like Stephanie Meyer, it’s daunting. A lot of years were spent on one book. A lot of years were spent on editing, and promoting, and bleeding everything she had into that series. And let’s face it, we live in a world that lives on a backbone of commitment issues. We want things quickly, right now, in our hands ready to go. That goes for success too. Thinking about decades of hard work can be the very thing that makes a person pause and think this isn’t for me.

                  Although I have no intention of quitting, breaking my goals into days has allowed me to breathe a little better knowing I’m doing what I need to everyday. I have a long-term goal that I set before doing this. I did the work ahead of time so now I can concentrate on today and only today, feeling good in the fact that tomorrow I can concentrate on what tomorrow needs.

                  I’m so frigging excited, dudes and dudettes. I’ve luckily managed to write enough today and feel good that tomorrow I’ve left it off where I can easily get into the swing of things and have momentum. So, let’s get into numbers!

Word Counts

Project Prophecy (I aint giving in that easy, yall gonna have to wait for a title on this one): 47,159

I smiled when I hit 47k. No idea why that number felt different, it’s not technically a milestone number but it felt good and I’m so excited to keep going tomorrow.

The Afterlife Sucks (Babes, lets face it. You’re a side piece I just don’t have time for. Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll be back for you): 3389

                  Stay writing (cause how else are you going to create a global phenomenon that the aliens will be confused by?)