I have written a lot on my blog about flowing with the current of life and being in the moment because these are two things I personally need to practice daily. And while I believe them to be key components to living a happy and fulfilling life, I also know a good dose of action is important as well. The key is balance. So as a piggy back to my post about revisiting resolutions, I am setting a bit of a plan for one of my resolutions.
I decided in 2012 that I really wanted to take my writing to a new level and accomplish my dream of writing a book. I came up with a non-fiction book idea for adults, but have since decided to get my feet wet first with writing a series of children’s books. In January I made some progress by inquiring about prices for editing and incidentally made a contact for a possible illustrator for the books that have yet to be written. In the excitement of finding not only an editor, but also a potential illustrator, I decided I wanted a book deal by the end of 2013. (Insert face of surprise and butterflies).
The idea that I would be a real life, published children’s author is far beyond my wildest dreams and somewhere in my mind, I wondered if it were possible. Can I do this? Can I really write a book that will be successful etc? Those questions and so many more have led me to put it off and find many excuses for why I haven’t begun. The ideas are floating around in my head, but nothing has made it to paper…yet.
I have since decided it is time for me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and let my ideas come to life. The book isn’t going to write itself and we are already 3 months into the year, so if I want a book deal for not just one book, but for the entire series, I better get moving. So, here I am setting the date for when I will begin working on my first book of the series (March 20th if not before). The loose plan is to have the book written and ready for the editor in a month and off to the illustrator shortly after that.
I realize I am diving into uncharted waters now and there is a certain amount of fear that is natural, but the bigger part of me is excited for what I am doing. I dreamed this dream for a reason and am so excited to get the ball rolling. December will be here before you know it and I can’t wait to share with you the good news of my book contract, because I know without a shadow of a doubt it will happen. 🙂
So tell me, have you set a date to begin any of your goals/dreams for this year? What are you waiting for? Don’t let fear stop you from moving forward even if it is just a teeny, tiny step.
Oh my you are brave, setting a date for…anything :). I never set dates for anything except appointments! Even the course I am studying (media and communications) doesn’t have a due date for the assessments or the end of the course – which is just how I like it. I imagine I will be finished by the end of the year, but I’m not going to put a date on it :). I have a lot of resistance to it, actually. Good luck with your goals, I look forward to hearing how you are going.
It’s funny you mentioned resistance because as I began wondering how I was going to make this happen I felt the resistance very strongly. The excitement that comes with just writing the book is great, but when my mind gets all caught up in the “how”, I lose faith and fear sets in. I think setting dates or being more flexible works a little differently for everyone and I know I would have allowed fear to hold me back if I didn’t set a date and advertise it on my blog! Now I am not only on my way to writing it, but I have some accountability. I look forward to sharing my progress.