May 12, 2017

Goethe penned a fantastic quote (stuck on our refrigerator) which goes something like:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. *

(* Turns out this may not have even been written by Goethe, but whatever. The quote rocks.)

From personal experience, beginning something also conveys upon the bold a sense of warmth.

I felt fantastic last night, as a direct result of beginning again. I wrote my first daily blog post, shared it on social media, and then remembered I had to move my book forward in some way. I contributed a good six or eight hundred words to the tally, some of which are undoubtedly shit. But I took action, moved forward, and kept my commitment. I slept the restful sleep of someone who had finally stopped lying to himself.

Today, the struggle is much more real.

It’s been a day filled with work, phone calls, schooling, parenting, cooking, and wrapping gifts. My daughter turns eleven tomorrow, and my writing time has been shaved to a whisker of its former self because of emergency birthday preparations. But still, prior to writing this post, I added another four or five hundred words to the tally, and completed a chapter.

I’m all about completion now. I don’t care if it’s not perfect, I just want my first tragic draft (Jo’s words) finished, so I can read through from start to finish, and figure out where the machete and the marker start their bloody editing work.

But still, having kept my promise (and scraped in to “today” by several minutes) I’m still feeling the warmth of beginning something new.

With love,
Israel. xo

 

Last word: Remember to check out Joanne Fedler’s Free 7 Day Writing Challenge now, and sign up, so you can personally experience the warmth of beginning something new: in this case, a daily writing habit.

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