The Next Important Question

 Now that I have you thinking about the importance of asking why, let’s consider another very important question. What if?

What if asking why led you to consider new and uncharted possibilities?

What if you realized some of those possibilities could be just the road you need to take?

What if you took a chance?

What if that chance you took changed your life, as well as the lives of your family members?

What if it was hard and required a lot of sacrifice?

What if that hard thing meant good progress in the future?

What if that progress was something that taught your children or other loved ones about the importance of following their dreams?

What if they took that lesson and did something big?

What if your choices rippled on for generations?

Or

What if that chance wasn’t right for you, but you learned from it anyway?

What if that wrong choice led you to another choice that could be the right one?

What if you learned a lot of important lessons along the way?

What if your loved ones saw you try and knew that your journey made you who you are?

What if your future, and theirs, was better because you took a chance on the possibility of what if?

Progress. Pass it on.

**For writers:  What if this question created an entire story. Conflict, character arcs, beginning, middle, end—all thrive on this question. Because in the world of fiction, reality stems from possibility. It’s how  good stories are created.

The First Steps to Revolution

So my last post mentioned my personal revolution (as opposed to setting resolutions). And I’m thinking about what it will take in order to get that thing moving.

First up, I think it’s time to get over the moving/packing-unpacking/overwhelming whatever whatever and get back to work. Sooo…

Time to draft a sequel to my May release. And then finish the half-edited book I was working on when my life sort of exploded, as well as the partly drafted book I started in September. And then draft another book, which will also probably be a sequel, but might be something totally new.

Also, I’m going to start sending out newsletters, planning a launch party and some signings, and finishing edits for Descendant (the one that comes out in May). And I should probably start some promotional planning too.  And since I’m teaching at a conference in May, I think I probably ought to plan my classes. And propose a few more for other conferences.

Um, yeah. I have lots to do.

But it’s all good stuff that has me way excited. It’s going to be a great year.

Now it’s your turn. How will your revolution start?   

New Year’s Revolution

Well, that does it. 2012 is officially over. I have taken down my holiday décor, changed my Christmas ringtone back to a non-holiday song, and even reset my playlists. And I’m trying to get my new house (the temporary rental) semi-decorated now that there is a tree-sized hole in the room around which the current décor seems to revolve. Funny how that happens when you move over the holidays.

But in the process, I got thinking about resolutions and revolutions and change. Things that always tend to come up in January.

First, I thought about resolutions. And how my life has been so dramatically upset in the last six months, that I don’t think I could handle much more change. And then I thought, well, of course I can handle it. I just hope it’s good change. The kind that means forward progress.

It’s what I hope. And that’s my goal for the year. To move forward and progress in all areas of my life. No resolutions needed.

It’s my personal revolution to take 2013 by the hair and drag it along behind me.

What about you? What are your personal goals for the year?  

Stepping Stones to Speeding Trains

This week, I’ve been thinking about progress, and how it never looks quite like you thought it would. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it’s really good. Amazing even. And sometimes, not so much. But good or amazing or terrible, progress forces us to move.

Whether we’re moving forward or backward or sideways, we’re MOVING, and that’s important. Because even when we’re sliding backward, it gives us an opportunity to try to move forward again. Sometimes, it’s the backward movement that helps us to find a path we missed the first time, or one we saw, but passed up. And maybe that path is the right path, so maybe we’ll keep sliding, keep coming back to it until we finally give it a try.

And if that path happens to be right, chances are that once you finally take it, everything else will change. Life will open up in unexpected ways.

If and when that happens, you don’t spend your time wondering what took you so long, or regretting how far back you had to slide to get to that place (or, at least, you shouldn’t). Instead, you focus your energies on holding on tight, because with all the experiences you’ve collected along the way now behind you, there’s an extreme force propelling you forward, and you may not be used to your new rate of speed.

But wow, it’s going to be a heck of a ride!

At least, that’s my experience. What about you? When is the last time you took a path you’ve been avoiding?

With a Little Help from My Friends

This summer my friend Windy and I made a pact. We have this goal to finish the rough draft of our works in progress (one each) together, almost as a writing marathon—or more accurately, a sprint.

Truth: I don’t know if I’ll actually get my draft finished by the end of August.

But. I’ve made LOTS of progress, and am happy. I expect to have a livable draft by the official calendar end of summer (Sept 20th). And even though Windy feels doubtful about her progress, I suspect she’ll finish by then as well.

Here’s how it goes: every night, we meet via Twitter and support each other in our #amwriting attempt. As soon as we get started, others inevitably join us and we have a nice party of support. And because I know that someone else is there, waiting for me, I have extra motivation to show up and get to work.

Whether or not I finish the full draft, I’ve made progress. I’m so much farther along than I was when we started this challenge.

It helps tremendously to have someone working along with me, to have someone expecting something from me. Have you found this to be true as well? Who expects progress from you? (If you answer no one, come play with us on Twitter! We’ll get you going.)