Don't Drink the Corona!

A lot has changed since my last post only a month ago.

There has been a lot of doom and gloom on the news and new struggles have upset the patterns of our everyday lives.

I was planning on writing about how to support Indieauthors, but I don’t think it’s the best topic for

today with all that is happening around the world.

Today, I want to talk about time.

I see a lot of people on social media complaining about being stuck at home, and frankly, I am amazed.

I am fortunate enough to still be working (though it’s not always what I want to be doing) but I would love to have several weeks off. I have a small shelf of books I have told myself I am going to read someday, several video games I wish I had more time to play, and several books of my own that need writing. Not to mention an amazing wife who is stuck at home with me and gets to watch me stare into a computer all day.

Yet I keep seeing people going stir crazy.

Don’t let quarantines get to you – Don’t fall into despair with each new statistic.

There is a silver lining on this crisis. Take the time you always claim you need to rest, recoup, and to begin the things you have been putting off. I love Netflix as much as the next guy, but don’t just watch episode after episode of “Love is Blind” or “Tiger King”.

You only get so much time - make the most of it.

View this time as a gift, not just for writers but for everyone. Spend time with your families if you live with them. If you can’t be with them physically, facetime them, skype them, have a go to meeting with them. Learn to play that guitar you have had for six years but never touched or push down the keys on the piano in your living room that nobody plays. Learn a new language or a new skill, a lot of magic tricks require nothing more than a deck of cards.

My wife (Chantal, for future reference) and I went for a walk today, as we live in an extremely rural area, and we saw a mother and her little girl drawing with sidewalk chalk. When we passed by later we saw what they had drawn in the middle of the road – Flowers, sunshine, and the words “Smile, stay healthy”.

I don’t know if they realize just how meaningful their day was. In a world so focused on the negative, this mother and daughter fostered their relationship with each other, and then to top it off used that time not only to build their relationship, but to make a work of art that would hopefully bring a little joy to others.

I believe that this is one of the primary purposes of art; to bring a sense of joy, wonder, and meaning to the viewer.

I have seen a few others who have decided to take up that torch as well in this time of crisis like John Krasinski and his new news channel: SGN (Some Good News).

One last person I would like to mention is my wife, Chantal. She has been working on her acrylic and oil painting skills. Check out her work on Instagram here.

I have been debating for a while now making my book available online for free, and this seems like the right time to do it. Just go to the Where Man and Monster Meet page of the site and you will find it a PDF copy available to view. I wouldn’t call my writing joyful per say, but perhaps cathartic. Either way I hope you enjoy it.

So, this month’s advice:

Use this time where you are forced to slow down to remember that life is really about living, not working or worrying.

See you next month!

The Fear of Being Imperfect.

I’m sure you have all been waiting eagerly for this next post so I will do my best not to disappoint!

I want to write today about the fear of being imperfect.

A close friend of mine (let’s call him Bob) once told me that I was a perfectionist. We were in college at the time and I laughed at the comment as I was a B-C student, not so perfect. Then he told me what he meant by “perfectionist”. He didn’t mean that I struggled to make all of my work perfect, it was quite obvious that that was not the case. He meant that if I didn’t believe I could do something one hundred percent, I wouldn’t put any effort in at all.

He’s right. Hence, I am writing a very imperfect blog.

That mindset has been a defense for me for quite some time and it is still something I struggle with.

Many aspiring writers are afflicted by this mentality. We want our work to be perfect. Maybe it comes from the desire to be successful or maybe it is a fear of being criticized, either way, it is often a slow killing poison. Obviously you should want your work to be good and up to snuff but I have watched writers become too afraid to call their work finished and others become too afraid to even begin.

Everything you have ever been good at has taken practice, failure, and critique.

Why would writing be any different?

I sent both of my books to Bob, before self-publishing, to get his feedback. In college, we talked a lot about stories we were working on and narrative structure. Bob told me several stories that I found absolutely fascinating. I fear that those stories will eventually be lost to time as Bob suffers from a similar fear of his work being imperfect.

My advice on combating this fear of being imperfect is to start small in your writing.

Start by writing short stories.

I see so many new self-publishing authors start with a four to five hundred page novel or try to kick off their fantasy saga that will be seven books long and is eerily similar to Game of Thrones. Think about it: who is going to read a work that ambitious by someone they have never heard of?

So start small. Once you have a few short stories that you believe are up to par. Give them to family and friends for feedback and, if you are really ambitious, have someone outside of that trusted circle read them (obviously be careful that your stories are copywrited, etc.)

I was recently at a Caspian concert (I hope they will forgive me for mentioning them here), a post-rock band from MA. A recording of Bluebird by Charles Bukowski opened one of the songs. I had never heard it before but it is now one of my favorite poems. I began listening to his other work and found one on the topic of writing. Bukowski writes,

“If you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all, you're not ready…”

So, my advice: Do not be afraid to write, do not be afraid of criticism, and do not be afraid to call your work complete. You have other stories that also deserve to be told.

Please like and share my work! And I will see you next month!

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Click here to listen to Caspian – https://www.caspian.band/

Click here to listen to Bluebird by Charles Bukowski – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi6y1XWb-E

Click here to listen to On Writing by Charles Bukowski - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9iBEUNfikk

A New Year as an Independent Author

I would rather write the opening line to a thousand novels than write a blog.

It’s ironic actually, throughout the years I have always wanted the opportunity for my voice to be heard, and now that time has passed and technology has given us the great gift of blogging, I find that I have very little to say. It’s strange. Everyone wants to be heard but we are all so afraid to speak; afraid we will be sifted or mocked, or overlooked entirely.

My goal for this blog is to give you a bit of my voice; to try to share with you some little thoughts and wisdoms that have both graced and haunted me on my journey through life. This blog will be both for Independent Authors and Readers alike.

So what should you expect from investing your time here?

It is a new year, a new decade actually, and as I thought about my goals for this year (and this blog) I tried to avoid the classic pitfall of setting ambiguous goals like “getting in shape”.

To properly set goals you have to believe it is do-able for yourself and you need a way to measure your success and failure.

So instead of saying “I want to get in shape,” you would decide “I want to be able to do 10 consecutive pullups by the end of the month.” Or maybe just two consecutive pullups, that’s up to your judgement.

My goals as an Author this year will be:

1. To finish and self-publish my second book: Icarus Falls 2. To finish my short story The Dark Valley and have it published in a magazine. 3. To write 12 blog posts to be released once a month. 4. To bring you great content and enrich your lives.

These will be my four main goals. I also have hopes of releasing an audiobook version of Where Man and Monster Meet, bringing you some author interviews and finally, providing you all of this content for free.

Whether you are an Independent Author or Reader this blog is for you.

Stay tuned and spread the word!