It has dawned on me that I have been largely absent for some time. The gap has not been intentional!
Over the summer, in addition to my full-time job, I conduct a community band. I love it. I’m passionate about it. And, more to the point, I invest a lot of myself in it. Not only do I need to be ON (volume level 10) during rehearsal, but due to the nature of the ensemble, (we’re a summer band so attendance can be spotty), I seem to spend a lot of time on it on my off days.
Now, part of that is the standard that I’ve set for myself. I want to do well at this, I want people to have a positive experience, and I hope people can take away a new skill or perspective to their regular year-round ensembles: I hope for personal growth from each of the members. So I have committed to sending out the list of pieces from which my rehearsal plan is drawn within a day or two of our rehearsal. In addition, this year, I took to including discussion on some topics in music theory (for those who were interested). So it seemed I was always preparing material (in emails) for them. Finally, part of my role is setting concert order, and communicating that to our musicians in advance of the performances.
I felt I put far more effort into it than I ever have, but the results were evident. It was certainly the best summer we’ve had with me at the helm. I also believe it was the best summer the band has ever had in terms of preparedness versus number of performances. Everything just seemed to gel into a really special year for us.
While all this was going on, I didn’t work on my own writing. Not even a little. Of course, I was also doing a heavy amount of writing for my day job as well as the band stuff. I’ve been concerned about this, but still was not able to get myself in gear.
Then, late in August, I heard that Tim Grahl’s course with Jeff Goins – The Productive Writer – was on sale. I hemmed and hawed a bit at the timing of the expense. But I’ve been following both Tim and Jeff for most of this year – I heard of them right around the time I decided to write – and I’ve been able to take advantage of some of their free resources including webinars and e-books, so I knew the quality of their product would be high. In fact, I had precisely zero doubts as to the quality – these gentlemen know their stuff and they excel at communicating it clearly. If you, dear reader, have any interest in the craft and business of writing, I would highly recommend the following websites (which I will also post in my Resources page. Mental note to me: create Resources page):
Jeff Goins: http://goinswriter.com/
Tim Grahl: http://timgrahl.com/
In the end, I decided to go for it because I expected it would invigorate me to get back to writing, and my motivation had flagged in the face of my lack of direction and apprehension/lack of confidence. I’m now in the final week of the course and I have found it to be extremely valuable. While Tim and Jeff share their experiences and advice freely, the onus is very much on me to incorporate what I take from it into my methods in my own way, rather than them attempting to mold me (and my life) into a cookie-cutter version of an author. Tim and Jeff are very clear about what is within the scope of the course (how to focus, fit writing time in, and complete a first draft of a book in 90 days), and what is out of scope of the course (how to write).
Here’s a link to the course information:
So that’s been happening.
As a result of this course, well, here’s the update on my progress: I have a plan. It’s in my head. My goal is to complete the first draft of my current novel project by the end of December.
There. I’ve said it.
Now, to horse –