Leaving a mark on the world
Every person has wishes, hopes and dreams. We all hope that we have something that we can do –something that will leave our mark on the world. Everyone wants their shot at greatness and they are never too young or too old to start.
For me, my biggest dream is to write a novel – or several – and to be someone’s favorite writer. Here are some of the things I have learned while pursuing my dream.
WORK AT WORK
Now this should be a fairly obvious tip. Try to work hard on whatever you want to accomplish.
For me, that means, when I get home from work, I take 30 to 45 minutes daily to work on my book.
Now whether this means that you take time to sing, work at gardening or whatever else you love to do, remember to take the time to work on it and enjoy your time with it.
LOOK FOR TIPS FROM PROFESSIONALS
Another thing I really enjoy is looking for tips from people who have already accomplished what I want. I watched a YouTube video and read blogs of writers.
Doing this help me fine tune what I do. It also motivates me to keep going. Seeing someone who has been there and understands how hard I am working on something gets me fired up and my fingers soon start flying over the keyboard again. There are more free resources out there than you are aware of. You can find online classes, books, or if you’re a visual person, YouTube is full of tips.
LOOK FOR SERVICES
Now one of the things that I have recently had to come to terms with is the fact that I can’t do everything.
I am not skilled enough to build a cover for my book. Yes of course I can look in Photoshop and see how a front cover would look, but mine won’t be as good as someone who is professionally paid to build those covers.
I have taken time to realize that there are others out there that would do a better job than I would and that is OK. There are plenty of online sites that will help you find freelance professionals to help you with anything you can ask for.
LOOK FOR TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU CAN USE
One thing that I have learned is that technology can be your friend.
Something that I have recently started using that I love is a diction software. While I am cooking or getting ready for work, I can turn on this app and it will listen to what I say and write it down for me. For someone who is constantly on the go, this is an answer to prayer.
It also helps me write faster because you speak faster than you write. I can take a few minutes and write 400 to 500 words. It is a rough draft but it gets my thoughts down on paper and I can go back and edit it later.
DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF
There will be days that you don’t have the time to work on what you love. I personally beat myself up when I am too tired to work on my book. That’s not fair to myself. I work all day and sometimes I don’t have the energy.
Dreams are something that you chace because you love to do them. They feel like they define you. Don’t push yourself so hard that something that you love becomes something that you dread doing.
Wanting to take something that you love and turn it into something that you can do for the rest of your life is an amazing and scary adventure. Don’t stress, enjoy what you do and I hope these tips will help make it a little bit easier.