I haven’t blogged in a while due to a crazy working week. It’s been a while since I’ve had such an intense schedule and I feared I would be a little ring-rusty and unable to rise to the challenge. Practice makes perfect and lack of it feeds the monster of self-doubt that is always lurking, waiting to pounce and crush my fragile confidence. So, it was with some trepidation that I entered the fray last week.
Thankfully it all went well. I (think) I rose to the occasion as my training clicked into gear and I donned my working persona. Confident, decisive, self-assured. I may have been trembling inside but to the outside world all was well and in hand. Come Friday I could look back on a job well done and head home back to my neglected writing and blogging responsibilities. Which brings me full circle again…
A week is a long time to be away from a manuscript, especially one at an advanced stage. Could I pick up again the golden literary thread that would lead me through the darkness to the end of the story? My latest book is in its final edit before being forwarded to my loyal army of beta readers. I need it to be as perfect as possible and that means dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘t.’
Confidence is an elusive creature. It can be as solid as a slab of rock or trickle through your fingers like grains of sand on a beach. It is fickle and furtive in equal measure and can carry you to fresh glory or crush you into a blubbering mess. I’m hoping I can pick up the editing baton and carry it to the finish line of this latest draft. How close are you to your own finishing line? Let me know by commenting below.
You
Black Thoughts 
It must have been strange being ‘back at work’ after being away for so long, so well done for getting back into the swing of things so easily. (After 3 months of retirement I’d completely forgotten what I used to do at work, but then many of my colleagues might have have said “not much” anyway!) As for a finishing line, I have entered a race, called the Sierre-Zinal, which is on the 7th August (COVID willing). So the finish line is a long way off yet, but I need that time to put in the hard graft. It could well be one of the hardest races I’ve ever done – and I’ve done a few ‘crazy’ ones in my time.
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Welcome back! We – or at least I – have missed you during your absence. Just muster that same perseverance which pushed you to the finish line in each of your previous undertakings and you’ll get there without breaking a sweat.
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Right now my creativity is flagging. Here in the city where I live the number of covid cases are exploding as the new variants have taken hold. We are not where the U.K. was a few weeks ago. We have the dubious honour of having the widest spread in the province, more even than the big cities. It’s depressing and very scary.
all that negativity aside, I do wish you all the best in your efforts and every success with your novel.
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Glad to read you again, Stephen! I miss your writing as part of my daily regimen of things not having to do with work! Unlike you, I never stopped going into the office – even when were under lockdown in the US. I was deemed the essential worker at an essential business – so while my colleagues all worked from home, I kept the office fires burning – day in and day out. Sometimes I feel like I missed out on the “pandemic experience.” That being said, I am far from my finish line – I have just been trying to keep on keeping on every single day no matter what. Any hopes of self-improvement or self-fulfillment went out the window in March of 2020. Alas, I am thankful for my job and my health. I never forget how quickly both could be taken away.
It was good to spend some time with you this morning. Be well and good luck as you dive back into the pool of words!
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Let’s just say I’m more of the ‘couch’ part in the ‘Couch to 5K’ program of writing…
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It’s hard to juggle everything you need and want to do and still have time to write. I’m currently 31K words into writing book 3 (first draft and a hot mess). I’ll be setting that aside soon to pivot back to book 2 for what I hope are final edits. So while I’m closing the gap on one finishing line, I still have a long way to go on another. I sometimes have to battle that feeling of, “I’m never going to finish.”
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Sometimes I feel like I have no finish line!
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Nice you are “back in the saddle again”. Give it time. It will all fall back into place.
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Is blogging really a “responsibility” for you? I’m thinking you actually enjoy it. Sorry to hear that you had a tough week.
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Thank you. I enjoy it but also believe I have a responsibility towards the readers to produce regular, relevant content.
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It is hard for me to complete goals due to my battle with depression.
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Ok sorry to hear that.
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I have two chapters left of thirty to finish my first edit of my book. Then I will be engaging the help of a small group of beta readers myself. Then it’s the big thing of trying to figure out how to publish this thing!
Prayers to you, for continued consistency in bringing that finish line closer and closer!
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Exciting times. Getting closer every day 😊
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