95 Days Away: My Secret to Writing No Matter What
This is me recording our adventure from Hillsboro, Oregon to New York City in August and to Cape Town, South Africa on September 16th.
Welcome to day 6, almost a week in!
Even though the experiment so far is not a wild success (I honestly thought I would win the hearts of millions with my personal journey *sarcasm*), I love writing these for the sake of practicing my craft. While it’s documentary writing, it’s writing just the same. If that whole 10,000 hour rule is true, then I’m sure you can chalk this up as part of that practice time.
The only difference is that I’m publishing my practices for the public.
Weeks like these don’t come around often. My boss is gone, meaning I have this unbridled freedom to do whatever I want.
(Sadly, this is a fact. My job is not demanding in the least. Can you see why I’m leaving for South Africa?)
How do I spend my 8.5 hours in front of a computer with no pressing tasks? Well, other than the constant Millennial pull of social media and YouTube or Medium rabbit holes, I write. I write and I write. I write this series of events — or lack thereof. I write posts for other publications discussing a variety of travel and digital nomad questions. I write my novel that definitely needs an outline, but come on, who’s going to take the time to write out an outline?
I write, dammit. No matter what.
How do I do this?
I’M A WORD ADDICT.
I have given up all of my dumb side ventures — writing code (not the same thing as writing at all), trading Forex, creating affiliate marketing websites — and have succumbed to the flow writing puts me in.
Last post had 10 views with 3 recommends? Great. The words will still come to me. Last post blew up, with 200+ views, a few dozen recommends and an influx of followers? Fantastic. I’m still going to put pen to paper (electronically speaking of course).
It could be because my girlfriend decided to create her own business and is amazing at what she does. It could be because I’ve listened to the influencers of our generation and decided to apply the principals.
But for whatever reason, I am now calm. I don’t feel this pressure to make $1 million or be a huge success in a certain field. I’m 22 for Pete’s sake. I have nothing but time. I need to be selfish with my time and grateful for the time I’ve had to grow.
I have fallen in love with the process, infatuated with the words, entranced by my ability to fashion cohesive thoughts into articles on Medium.
I build and I build, completely at ease.
How will I keep calm and write on when I travel to South Africa? That’s a good question.
Responsibility
I have this feeling that by the time I touch down in Cape Town I will have way more responsibilities than I do now. (Which is ironic, because somebody pays me now to have literally zero responsibilities.) I will 100% have a responsibility to my followers and anybody who reads my work; if my WHY is to lead people to their dream life, I better keep giving you the content you deserve.
I will also have a social media influence growing by the time I leave the United States. Those followers will be expecting some vindication for following in the first place.
Constant Content
They aren’t kidding when they say content is king. Content takes time. This will be my full-time job. And I’m excited for that to be real.
My dream life has always been to be a writer. Not just an author that writes a novel or two every 5 years, but someone who remains on the cusp of real-time relevance. So I’m going to pursue my dream life; I’m already doing it, and I feel like the million bucks I once desperately coveted.
Money
Okay, okay, maybe a little cash in the pocket is a nice incentive to write. That isn’t motivator number one, though. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I asked myself what I would do if money were no object. My answer was to write. And here we are.
With that said, it would only enhance my self-esteem if somebody paid me for my talents. My wish is to write for other blogs who value my opinion and journey. I want to write for audiences who admire what I’m doing with my life — this is in direct correlation with my WHY.
Then I will complete my novel while in South Africa. This is NOT a goal, but a habit; I write at least 300 words towards my novel daily. At that pace — which I’m already exceeding — I should have a full-fledged draft by the time I leave. I’ll put that puppy up for grabs and see what it does.
If it doesn’t sell, oh well. I still wrote a novel. Booya!
Do what you love. That’s my secret, which really isn’t a secret to begin with. If it is something I want so badly I’ll stop at nothing to get it, then I don’t need the Medium articles about habit and the motivational YouTube videos.
I already know what to do. So I just f*cking do it.
3 tasks and an update:
- Surprise! More writing! Did I mention earlier that I’m addicted now? Yep, that’s me over there, snorting lines of prose and getting high off of alliteration. This post, another post regarding — spoiler alert — why you should absolutely document your experiences, and those pesky 300 words for my novel. Good stuff. As Richard Bach said:
“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”
- Eat 2 bananas. Doing this raises your body’s sensitivity to insulin, which means your body makes less of it, resulting in weight loss. Just a neat little factoid.
- Yoga with my lady. My muscles, at the ripe old age of 22, needs this. Also, I love spending quality time with my awesome girlfriend. Win-win.
- Update: My girlfriend Jess’ first client owns a notebook company, so what does that mean for Mr. Writer over here? FREE NOTEBOOKS! I’m geeking out because I love notebooks. Besides that, I’m grateful that Jess has an amazing client already. I’m eager to see what other relationships — and free goodies — come from her kickass solopreneur endeavors!
Now I must go; I have more writing to do!
If you enjoyed hearing my personal take on this journey I am on, please hit the heart. It shows me that this brings value to people’s daily lives, the one thing I focus on in my content.
I’m eternally thankful you took time out of your day to read this. Hope your Tuesday is full of life and love (and maybe tacos)!
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” -Annie Dillard
Call to Actual Action and Not Just Exiting This Post Without Making a Change
What keeps you from saying, “F*ck it, let’s go and do”? I’m here to help. Seriously. We are days away from embarking on the biggest adventure of our lives. I want to say the same for as many people possible. Please leave a comment about your fears and/or uncertainties about becoming who you really want to be. I will do my utmost to respond quickly with tangible tasks so you can immediately start on your path to purpose!
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