Conviction

Sometimes weird things collide in my head. I have ideas and they get wedged in odd corners and stuck. Other ideas will pop up, rebound off of something and crash into the wedged bits.

It’s a lot like the old commercial where somebody with chocolate crashes into somebody with peanut butter (because who wouldn’t walk around just scooping a snack out of the jar, right?) and peanut butter cups are formed.

Two of my older writing ideas have been smashed together. I think they’ll work in longer form. The issue is, finishing.

Adding to this mess – a number of other statements have collided in my head lately. All of them are about dedication, commitment or conviction. I didn’t think I needed the push, but then I looked at the date stamps on a number of the projects I’ve started. There are some old dates in there. These projects are GOOD, but they’ve floundered. The one thing that keeps rebounding back and forth in my head is right around the 58 second mark of this video clip ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vK0FPtYTvY ). I seem to lack conviction. I haven’t followed through. I haven’t made my creative life a constant, it has been a constant secondary option – or tertiary depending on the day.

I know a lot of successful writers out there and I see lots of work pouring forth from them. Then I look at my work and wonder where it is.

No more wondering.

There will be a new level of conviction for this project. It becomes priority one for my creative work, all other projects get bumped until this one is done. Now that I’ve got that in writing, it actually feels a lot more like a contract.

There are some very nice things about this new project. Being the combination of a couple of old things, there’s already a 20k word start on it. Admittedly those words are a bit of a hash at this point, but that’s for edits later. Get through the work. Finish. That’s the key.

One of the other nice things about this project? I’ve worked out a secret deal with a writing partner. This other person and I have agreed to work this together and help push each other along. An added level of commitment. I’m very excited about this new project!

Updates to follow!