Another year goes by on dream of writing a book

About a year ago, I had the feeling I should branch out into writing a book, a play, songs or any format that needed words. It was time to stretch my creative muscles and come up with that huge bestseller, Broadway script or top 40 single.

There’s a big difference between feeling you should do something and actually doing it.

I’m no further along than when my gray matter first started turning those feelings into thoughts. Unfortunately, “thoughts” are all I have right now. It turns out it takes a lot of discipline to set and accomplish goals, and that’s something I’ve always been in short supply of.

If only I could bottle the dreamer in me, I’d be rich as Rockefellers. First, I’d have to update my references to be rich as Gates or Bezos. That’s the other thing about writing, know your audience.

A friend of mine from many years ago has written a memoir about his life as an entertainer. At 79, he has many tales to tell. He’s currently on his second printing, which is pretty amazing since he’s not very social media savvy, and a lot of his sales come from word of mouth.

It’s funny to look back from the college days when I first met him. He’d been a middle school English teacher for a few years and left it all behind to hit the road with his songs and comedy and never looked back.

I wish I had that passion for something to commit to as my vocation. Perhaps that’s the reason I’ve drifted through so many jobs over the years. Even my choice of major in college spoke of my lack of commitment to any one thing. Broadfield social sciences gave me a little bit of knowledge in a lot of different subjects but not enough in any one subject to translate to a career in anything.

Hopefully, this lack of direction in my life has given me a lot of material to choose from and that there will indeed be a book or something in there, should I finally decide to tap into it. I know well the roads I’ve taken, but maybe I should let my mind wander down the roads not taken.

Whatever I decide to do, I know I have to give myself a deadline. If there is one thing I’ve learned in the newspaper business, it’s that I don’t work well without a deadline. Perhaps this is the business I was meant to do all along. The weekly deadline appeals to my sense of timing and purpose. There’s a certain clarity in knowing there is an end result that must be met before the paper goes to press.

The authors I’ve interviewed over the years all say the same thing — write every day and edit later. That’s hard for me to do as I’m always editing in my head. Sometimes I do so much editing that I forget to look at a story from the reader’s point of view and leave out pertinent information. It’s then that I’m grateful for the editors who go over my stories and ultimately make me a better writer.

With the pandemic, there seems to be an uptick in the amount of would-be writers in the world. Some are quite good, but some are just writing to see their words in print — kind of like the people who have nothing to say but won’t stop talking.

Each November, there is a writer’s contest where you dedicate yourself to write a certain number of words each day. The purpose is to get writers out of their own heads and just focus on the work. Each year, I think I’m going to participate, and each year, I let the month slip away.

I could announce that I’m going to participate this year, but I think I’d better do a practice run and see if I can commit to just one week and work my way up to a whole month. My birthday is in a couple of weeks, so I think I’ll do that test now and see what I come up with between now and then. Hopefully, I’ll have something to report back to you — if not in a couple weeks, then by the next birthday for sure.

Miriam Nelson is the news editor of the Wittenberg Enterprise and Birnamwood News. Readers can contact her at mnelson@newmedia-wi.com.

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