7 Tips For Choosing Your Next Novel To Write

IT’S OCTOBER.

OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which also means it’s officially…

NANOWRIMO PREPPING MONTH.

(Are you freaking out? Because I’m totally freaking out.) (Also, I warned you NaNoWriMo will be like my only posting subject for a while. #Sorrynotsorry)

SO. Last week I basically took a whole post to yell at you all to just write the story you want to write and not let fear stop you! Buuuut some of you may be thinking, “That was all well and good, Christine, but I still don’t know what story I want to write for NaNoWriMo.” I mean, out of the 2938398434 plot bunnies that have been vying for your attention, IT CAN BE HARD TO CHOOSE. There are so many variables.

Such as…

• What are you in the mood to write? (Fantasy? Rom-com? That weird steampunk story with ninja sorcerers and zombie pirates that’s been sitting in the back of your mind for years?)
• Do you want to try writing out of your usual genre or stick with the familiar?
• Should you write something with a small cast to make things simple? Or a large cast to help add to that word count?
• Are you wanting to write a story that will actually be publishable or just do something fun and crazy for yourself?
• What story are you even willing to stick with for 30 long crazy days???

THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS TO CONSIDER. Deciding on what book to pour your HEART AND SOUL AND SWEAT AND TEARS into can be…daunting. Terrifying. Overwhelming. Let’s face it, sometimes it’s a complete nightmare. Remember last week when I said I lost sleep trying to decide on what my NaNo novel would be? Yeeeah.

BUT.

Because I love you all, I’ve compiled a list of some tips and questions to ask yourself to help you wrangle that unruly indecision into submission! (This is more a less a part two or continuation of last week's post. Sort of… Let’s just pretend!) These are all things I’ve done over the years (and not only with NaNo, with ALL my novels) that have helped a lot, so maybe, hopefully, perhaps they’ll aid you as well!

LET’S GET TO IT.

 

#1: WRITE WHAT EXCITES YOU

This one is probably obvious but it’s very, very, very, very IMPORTANT. Spending hours inside one single novel can be…tedious. To say the least. Especially during NaNo when you’re forcing yourself to write day after day after day. You do NOT want to be bored with your story.

If you have a story idea that just doesn’t fuel your soul then…maybe find something else that does? That’s ultimately how I settled on what I’m writing for NaNo. I had multiple ideas, but one in particular made me literally do a little jig I was so excited to write it. (I’M AN OVER EXCITABLE PERSON, OKAY??) It was at that moment I knew that was the story I wanted to write this November.

So whether you’re doing NaNoWriMo or just looking for that next book to pen, make sure it’s one that makes your heart dance at the thought of forming it into being.

AND don’t just write the story idea you love, also write scenes you love. See, back in the olden days, with Baby Christine’s novels, I’d often just write whatever next scene came to mind. I’d settle for my first ideas, even if they were mediocre. As a result, I ended up writing a lot of boring scenes. Which meant I was bored. Which also means my readers would be bored. WHICH IS A BIG NO NO. I did quite a bit of this in my NaNo 2012 novel. I had so many scenes I forced myself to write that I just…didn’t want to. Needless to say, that wasn’t my favorite NaNo.

Thus, once NaNo 2013 rolled around, I made one simple goal: Make the story AWESOME. No more mediocre scenes! No more boredom! Which included making every single scene something I’d enjoy writing. I do extensive plotting with NaNo novels, so as I plotted, when I thought up a scene that bored me, I’d ditch it and replot the scene into something I knew I’d have a blast writing.

NaNo 2013 was one of my most favorite NaNos. (And one of my most feelsy novels to write because emotional scenes are my faaaave. Those poor, poor characters… Bwahahahaha…haha…ha. Ahem.)

Since that experience, I’ve learned—plotting or pantsing—if I’m about to write/plot a scene that bores me, I need to STOP and rework it into something fun to write. Which, in turn, will hopefully be something fun to read.

Moral of the story: Write a whole book that is chock full of stuff you enjoy writing about. Don’t just “settle”. Write something you LOVE.

 

#2: WRITE SOMETHING NEW, BUT WITHIN THE REALM OF FAMILIAR

Okay, so this is very much a suggestion, and may be personal taste. But after 7 years of NaNo, it’s something I’ve discovered is helpful for myself.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I did write each book of the same series for all seven of my NaNos, so I don’t exactly have the expertise of someone who wrote completely different novels every NaNo. But each book in my series followed different characters and, though set in the same world, had very different plotlines, so each one still felt new and fresh. Thus I still learned what I liked to write and what I didn’t along the way despite it being 7 years of one series.)

Sometimes I get bored writing the same ol’, same ol’. I have to shake things up and try new things to stay interested in my novels. But, at the same time, there are some things I know I’d never want to write. (Like historical fiction, for example.) I like to stay in my comfortable realm of speculative fiction, while still adding some new, interesting plot devices I’ve never tried before. That way, I’m not too overwhelmed writing something I have no clue how to write, but at the same time know I have some fun, unexpected things to try my hand at.

For example, I wrote a 7-book medieval fantasy series for the last 7 NaNos. Medieval fantasy is my genre, it’s the one I feel the most comfortable with. The one I started out writing, and will probably always come back to. Buuuut after 7 years of writing in the same medieval world, I kind of wanted to shake things up. Where the first few books stuck to a very classic medieval fantasy world where the most interesting thing that happened was swordfights (so many swordfights Z_Z), as I got older and more experienced in writing, I shook things up in the series. Such as stars being people, and a dragon the size of a city, and EXPLOSIONS. Explosions everywhere! (Not even kidding.) I also raised the stakes, added torture scenes (that was a new one for me), threw in a very interesting character, etc., etc. Suddenly, that simple medieval fantasy series I was kind of getting bored with by the time I got to the third book became WAY more fun to write. And I happily wrote 4 more books and finished it. All because I chose to try new things, even though I was writing my “comfort zone genre”.

Yes, it is good to try new things and get out of your comfort zone. Buuuut, ya know, sometimes we have comfort zones for a reason. I think I’d be a terrible historical fiction novelist. That is not my comfort zone, and it’d be silly to attempt it just for the sake of “getting out of my comfort zone”. We have the genres we love and don’t love. It’s as simple as that. So why not just expand our comfort zones? Why not stay inside them, but spice them up with some new, shiny things? Like unicorns and explosions. (You can never go wrong with either of those things. #Fact)

Believe me, spicing up a genre you love is a blast. These days, what makes me want to write the most is adding new, crazy twists to genres I already love to write. Familiar and new—best of both worlds!

 

#3: HOW MUCH RESEARCH ARE YOU WILLING TO DO?

This is an important question, especially for NaNo novels. Because once November 1st hits, none of us are going to want to cut into our writing time by spending hours on Google researching…only to realize those hours of work was spent just so you can write one paragraph of something accurately. Now, a lot of people while first drafting just make notes at parts that need to be researched, and then do the proper researching during the second draft. That’s good. I totally do this myself. (Well, sometimes I fail at the whole physical note taking, but I make notes in my brain. That counts…right? Imakesomanymistakes.)

BUT. Let’s pretend I did lose my mind and decide to write historical fiction. Maybe I spontaneously feel like writing a 1800s novel set on the sea. WELL GUESS WHAT. I’m kind of the worst at history and am super bad about knowing the terms of things as simple as clothing items, and I know nooooothing about ships. If I didn’t research I couldn’t write anything. Instead of just a note here and there reminding myself to research a sword fighting technique or what mushrooms are poisonous and then moving on with the story, the WHOLE novel would just be one note that said “DO YOUR RESEARCH YOU UNEDUCATED LUG NUT”. And that’s only 7 words, so it wouldn’t exactly be a successful NaNo. But, if I had the mind to, I could spend the entirety of October pouring myself into 1800s facts and learning the inner workings of ships and be ready to write those 50k words instead of…7.

SO. It’s just a matter of how much you want to research or not. Being fully prepared once you’re ready to begin that story will save a lot of stress, believe me!

#4: SMALL CAST OR LARGE CAST?

(Aha, I mentioned this one at the beginning of the post. Continuation!)

This is actually something I very much took into account myself for this NaNo. See, for the last two NaNos, I was writing the big two-part finale for my medieval fantasy series. Which meant every. single. character. that was featured in the previous books were now ALL together in these finales (with the exception of the ones that died eheheheh…heh). I was juggling about 20 main characters at once. (I really wish that was an exaggeration…) Needless to say, I got a leetle overwhelmed. And by that I mean I was banging my head on my desk wondering, “Whyyyy did I make so many characters???” (I may have to cut some come revising time. *cough*)

After two years of that and finally being done with the series, I decided something for this NaNo: It’s going to be a small cast. No matter what novel I wrote, the cast was going to be SMALL.

But that’s just me. There are many pros and cons to small vs. large casts, particularly for NaNo novels.

Such as…

-Small casts are easier to manage, but they don’t always aid in the large wordcount department.

-Large casts will get you a lot of words (my series finale ended at 147k words because I had roughly 94958 loose ends and sideplots to tie up, yeeeah), but it can be overwhelming. I mean, I can’t even remember my own name. How am I going to remember 12 character names??? And manage it in only 30 days?!

But this is of course a personal thing. Some people always want to write large casts, some people prefer just having a small group to keep up with. These are simply thoughts to consider before you embark on this 30 day writing journey! Or…any writing journey!

 

#5: PRAY

‘Cause writing 50k words in 30 days requires a lot of prayer!

Okay, but seriously now. This is something I’ve been working on for the past couple of years, and it has made a huge difference. For some reason, I used to not think of praying for my writing???? Which was crazy, because my writing is basically my life. And I firmly believe God gave me this passion for it, so why would I not include Him in the whole process?

I believe last week I mentioned how a couple of years back I had made the decision that the next novel I wrote I’d write with purpose. As in, I wouldn’t just write yet another first draft and then move on to the next shiny thing. I’d actually stick with this book and pursue publishing with it and get serious about becoming an author. But that brought on the question of: WHAT ON EARTH DID I WANT TO WRITE??? This was a big deal. That next novel may become my debut novel and launch my writing career. But what did I want to start with?

Then it occurred to me. I should pray.

And I did. A lot.

Right around that time, the results for the 2nd annual Rooglewood Press contest were about to be announced. The goal of the contest was to write a Beauty and the Beast retelling novella, and I had entered an entry. Well, the morning the results were going to be released, I snagged up my phone the moment I woke up and looked to see who the winners were. My name wasn’t on the list.

But you know what? Instead of the bitter disappointment I expected to feel, I felt…peace. I pondered it as I showered that morning, and the answer to why I felt at peace and what I had been praying for hit me: That novella I had entered would be much better as a novel. In fact, Beauty and the Beast is a very special story to me, and my love of fairytales has been around since I was a toddler. Wouldn’t it be special to have my debut novel a Beauty and the Beast retelling?

And that’s how my novel, Burning Thorns, came to be. If I had won a spot in the contest, I wouldn’t have been allowed to turn Burning Thorns into the novel it is today. I don’t think I was ready to be done with it. Of course, it’s got a long road yet. I don’t know if it’ll be published or not, or what God has planned. But I do know He gave me that peace and has helped guide me on my writing journey.

Because God cares. He cares so much about your passions. He gave you that passion for words after all!

And that’s why I shared this (overly rambly) story with you. To show you that praying for your writing is important. If you’re feeling lost, ask God to guide you to that next story. You never know what amazing journey He’ll take you on!

 

#6: DON’T BE AFRAID

“Oh come on, Christine!” you’re all no doubt moaning. “You literally wrote a humongous post last week about not being afraid!” I know, right??? And, fun fact, that post from last week sort of started out as this post. But my point about not letting fear hold you back from writing your story got so long, I just made it its own post and decided to write this one for later. (Which is why I keep mentioning last week’s post in this one, since they were originally going to be one in the same.) What can I say? I HAVE A LOT OF THINGS TO SAY.

But yes, I’m putting this point here anyway because IT’S SUPER IMPORTANT. And I have one more thing to add that I didn’t mention last week.

Sometimes it is tempting to not write that SUPER AWESOME EPIC AMAZING story idea you have for NaNo because we are writing at breakneck speed and making a mess of things. The idea of totally creating a disaster out of that story idea you love so much is scary.

And I’m going to be real with you, NaNo novels are messy! THEY ARE. You’re writing thousands of words in just 30 day. SO MANY TYPOS. SO MANY PLOT HOLES. HOW DID THAT CHARACTER’S NAME GET CHANGED THREE TIMES? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. (<--- My actual NaNo experiences.)

But you know what? Honestly, sometimes I wonder if my NaNo stories come out better. Yes, they're littered with typos and dreadful writing and even plot holes, but the HEART is there, possibly more than with other stories. Because I'm living my novel. Non-NaNo novels I write are usually written more slowly in between life. But with NaNo novels, they are my life. For 30 days I’m living and breathing that novel and, no joke, I get a little disorientated when I look up from writing and focus back on real life, because I’m so utterly and completely honed in on that novel for so many days in a row. I get so wrapped up in the world and characters and emotions, I think they come out with more HEART and LIFE than my other novels. Typos and plot inconsistencies can be fixed during the editing phase. But it’s during that first draft phase that you’re putting the HEART of the novel together. And that’s what really makes a good story into a great story.

So even though I did a whole post on it last week, I’m saying it again: Don’t be afraid of getting your novel “just right”. Just WRITE it. (SeewhatIdidthere?)

 

#7: DO WHAT YOU WANT

You know what? Forget all my tips and ignore my advice and listen to Loki instead:

This is your novel. Your time you’ll be using to write it. JUST WRITE WHAT YOU WANT. Don’t be afraid (<— okay, that’s the one tip you shouldn’t ignore), don’t let anything hold you back. If you want to write about leprechauns who live on the moon and battle space werewolves with cheese graters, DO IT.

Stay in your comfort zone. Don’t stay in your comfort zone. Plot all month. Forget plotting and pants the whole thing. Write the largest cast ever. Or make a story that literally only has one person. It doesn’t matter!

JUST WRITE WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE WRITING.

You’re going to have an absolutely amazing time!

 

Now my favorite bit, talking to YOU. Do you have any tips or tricks you use to figure out what novel to write next? Do you have a specific type of novel you like to write for NaNoWriMo? AND WHO’S DOING NANOWRIMO????? (I’m excited, if it’s not noticeable.) Alsoooo if you’re new to the whole NaNo thing or just interested in it but have some questions DON’T HESITATE TO ASK ME. NaNo is my favorite subject and this’ll be my 8th time to participate so…hopefully I know my way around enough to answer any questions. *grins*

{Guest Posting} 4 Tips For Breaking The "Strong Female Character" Trope

Heeeey, guys! Just popping in all quicky like to let you know I'M GUEST POSTING OVER AT SCATTERED SCRIBBLINGS TODAY! And I’m excited! I was so honored when my dear Savannah asked me to guest post on her frabjous blog.

My post features 4 tips for breaking that “Strong Female Character” trope that’s running rampant in fiction these days, particularly YA novels. You know, the “action girl” type that basically has as much personality and warmth as an ice sculpture. If you’re like me and sick of that trope and want to create actual strong females, head on over to my guest post and (maybe, sort of, hopefully) you’ll find some helpful tips!

If you enjoyed my Why I Believe Cinderella is a Good Heroine post I did some weeks back, then I think you’ll like this one! It’s more or less a follow up.

So head on over to Savannah's blog and check it out! And do feel free to leave a comment. Because I’ll be stalking the comments section (like I do) and chatting with you guys there!

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone! <3

Smite That Fear and WRITE THE STORY

 

In just one week NaNo Plotting Month (a.k.a October) begins…

*PANICS AND FREAKS OUT*

Ahem. Just had to get that out of the way.

No clue what on this blue earth I’m talkin’ about? (“Blue earth” makes so much more sense to me than “green earth”. Hello? The earth is 70% water and only like…20-40% grass. So why is the expression “what on this green earth?” hmmmm??? #Tangent) “NaNo” is short for “NaNoWriMo” which, in turn, is short of “National Novel Writing Month”. NaNo takes place every November and is an event where writers all around the world try to write 50k words in one month. It’s my favorite thing on the planet and if you want to join in you can find the website and all info HERE.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo this year, you’re most likely trying to decide what you’ll actually be spending your entire November crying over writing. Or, even if you’re not doing NaNo, you’ve still experienced the struggle of choosing that next writing project. All writers have to go through it. This is the writer’s life. And choosing which story to spend the next months? years? decades??? on and pour our time and energy and entire hearts into is no light matter.

Trust me, I’ve anguished over this. About a month ago I was literally losing sleep trying to decide what to write for NaNoWriMo. And a couple of years ago I made the decision to actually get serious about my writing, which meant the next book I write was the one I was going to stick with and edit and pursue publishing with. Which meant…I had to actually decide what book I was willing to work so hard on. No pressure or anything! Eheheheh…heh…*cue existential crisis*

During this time of decision, the ugly faces of Doubt and Fear like best to leap out of the shadows and poke your brain while laughing maniacally, as they do.

“What if this is a stupid story idea?” Doubt whispers.

“What if you’re unable to make it perfect?” Fear sneers.

Perfectionism runs rampant in the writing community. After all, we have these wildly amazing ideas running through our brains that we fall head-over-heels for and then when it comes to putting ideas into actual words… WHAT R WERDS? HOW DO I WRITE THIS???

I personally feel like it’s especially tricky with NaNoWriMo, because you’re choosing to write something within the span of just 30 days, while with my other stories I usually take 4-6 months and write them more carefully.

For a while, I had 3 or 4 story ideas to write for NaNo, most of them things I’ve been wanting to write for a while. But then the very same reason I’ve been putting them off this long reared its head: Because I want them to be just right. Which meant I couldn’t write any of them for NaNoWriMo especially. My NaNo novels are so messyyyy. I’m throwing them together in only 30 days after all! I can’t write my beloved story ideas now. I love them too much! They must be PERFECT. But what if I can’t make any of them perfect? What if I get it all wrong? What if I butcher the whole thing? I better not ever write any of these stories at all ‘cause I’m gonna ruin them and and and—

STAHP.

No, no, no, no. That’s just letting Doubt and Fear win. Which is the worst feeling ever. But we do it. I know *I* do it. I let my fear and perfectionism stop me all. the. time. How stupid is that?

If there is a story idea that you love, you should absolutely, 100% WRITE IT. After all, no one else is going to. Sure, there may be stories similar to your idea, but they won’t be your story. The way you imagined it.

Yes, the closer to your heart the story is, the more Fear will assault you, the more you’ll want it just right.

But here’s the thing: If you love a story that much, you’ll be willing to use the amount of time it takes to make it perfect. If it’s that close to your heart, you’re going to drain every last bit of energy and love you have to shaping it into the best it can be.

For a bit there, I was thinking I should just write any ol’ random thing for NaNoWriMo. Simply something that wasn’t close to my heart so I wouldn’t mind it turning into a mess.

Are you rolling your eyes and shaking your head at my nonsense? Because I’m rolling my eyes and shaking my head at my nonsense.

We should not settle on spending hours and hours and hours on a story we don’t care much about because, after all, what does it matter if it turns out messy? Noooo. What a waste of time and energy!

If we’re going to write a story, it should be BECAUSE WE LOVE IT AND WANT TO GIVE IT LIFE. We should be writing the stories that make us get up in the morning out of utter excitement to return to our storyworld and characters. The stories that make us come alive. The ones that runs through our veins and gets our hearts pumping and drives us forward every day out of sheer love for them. The ones that force us to push back the doubts and fears and stress and headaches, and just keep writing no matter what because our desire to bring these stories to life are stronger than any of those things.

JUST WRITE THE STORY IDEA THAT YOU LOVE.

I know you’ve probably heard this 7 billion times, but I’m going to say it anyway: FIRST DRAFTS DON’T SUPPOSED TO BE PERFECT.

This may sound harsh, but it needs to be said. You can’t make a first draft just right. Writing simply doesn’t work that way. Edits will always need to be made. BUT. The only way to make that story you love “just right” is to first let it exist. And the only way for it to exist is for you to WRITE IT. I saw a quote somewhere that said all first drafts have to do is exist, and that was so inspiring. Because it’s true. However messy and wrong and crazy and riddled with typos and plot holes it comes out, it doesn’t matter. Because that’s the first step to creating the story of your heart.

If you have a story you want told, then tell it. JUST DO IT.

I spent the last 7 NaNoWriMos writing a 7-book epic fantasy series and, my word, the disaster those books are. You can’t even imagine the mess I made with them. They’re something akin to letting a dozen toddlers loose in a room full of open paint cans—you know, a mess so large and unimaginable you just want to curl up and cry at the thought of trying to clean it all up. But do I regret writing each of those books? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I love that series. It’s very close to my heart. And though by the time I rewrite each book they probably won’t even resemble these first drafts, I still have a basis. Without those first drafts, I wouldn’t have a story to get “just right”. I wouldn’t know where I was going or who the characters were or what needs fixing or how to tell the actual story. Those unreadable first drafts were vital to turning my Colors of a Dragon Scale series into something worth reading one day. The first drafts will never, ever be “just right”, no matter how meticulously we write them. I wrote the first draft of Burning Thorns very slowly and carefully, and it still needs tons of edits. But the first draft HAS to be written. Don’t hold yourself back merely for perfectionism’s sake. (Sheesh, this very blog post went through 3 majorly changed drafts before it got to what you’re reading now. But you wouldn’t be reading it now if I hadn’t first messily wrote down all my thoughts.)

We HAVE to push aside the fear and just write the stories that are calling to us.

It took weeks, months perhaps, of hemming and hawing, but I finally settled on what I’m going to write for NaNo. Of course, then the doubts came. Because the more I thought about the story, and the more ideas I got, the more excited I was. Which also meant the more fearful I became of totally ruining this cool idea.

Like I said, the more we love a story, the more fearful we became.

But you know what? I’m going to write that story! And then when it’s time to revise it and I find it is a total, horrible mess and all my fears came true, well, I’ll just edit it until it is the story I want to be. But I can’t turn it into that without first writing it.

(And no, I’m not telling you what it is just yet. *CACKLES* But don’t worry, I’ll be talking alll about it come October. In fact, from now until like…Christmas, you’ll probably only be getting NaNo-themed posts from me. What can I say, I’M OBSESSED. IT’S WHO I AM. By the end of it you’re most likely going to be sick of hearing about my story and NaNo. *griiins*)

So if you’re wanting to write a story you love but are holding yourself back for fear of ruining it…STOP.

Take your pen and smite that fear back into the shadows where it belongs and WRITE THE STORY.

You won’t regret it. I promise you that.

I’ll leave you with my absolute favorite writing quote:

“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” –Shannon Hale

Write bravely, my friends!

 

Tell me, O’ Writerlings, do you let fear of not getting your stories “just right” hold you back? Do you take any specific measures to violently attack that fear away and show it who’s boss??? Come, let’s band together and help each other write the stories of our hearts, fearless and unashamed!

Soak Up The Moment

*leaps back into the blogosphere and pulls each and every one of you into an epic group hug*

I AM BACK!!! And goodness have I missed all of you! I mean, I know I’ve only been gone for two weeks. You guys probably didn’t even notice my absence… Ahem. But I still missed all of YOU! Namely because, for once, I took an actual hiatus. See, usually my “hiatuses” just mean me not writing my own blog posts but still very much reading all of yours and keeping up on social media. But this time I took a for reals full two weeks social media hiatus. I barely even opened the twitter app! *GASP* I know, right???

As a result, I have approximately 909823847 emails, blog posts, and all that other fun stuff to catch up on and I may or may not be drowning in it all. BUT I SHALL CATCH UP. Though I may not be commenting on all the posts because, well, I only have so much time. But I will be reading every single one of your lovely posts I missed, even if I don’t get a chance to comment! (Because normally I’m sooo good and persistent at commenting on everything… AHEM.) And if you sent me an email and it takes me 3459 years to reply, I apologize!

Not only do I have the last two weeks of stuff to catch back up on, but I shall soon be jumping into NaNoWriMo plotting since we only have a month and a half left before it is upon us (you’re welcome for the panic attack I just provided, always here to help). Plus I have some beta projects I’m doing that also probably need to be tended to before the ever time-sucking NaNo takes over.

Needless to say, I’m feeling a leetle swamped. So the question is, was taking two full weeks away from everything even a good idea?

YES. The best idea.

Because you know what? Life isn’t about being up to date on blog posts and keeping my inbox clear and organized. Life is about living. And yes, I’m a writer. All these computer things I do basically is my livelihood. Not to mention the pathway toward my dream career. But there’s still so much more to life than a computer screen.

On September 3rd, I headed out to spend a week with my best friend of 17 years, and then she came back home with me to spend nearly another week in my town. And I didn’t turn on my laptop not a single day for the first entire week, and still barely touched it the second week. I could have used my laptop some. I could have taken a bit of time to keep caught up on things so I wouldn’t be so swamped when life returned to normal. My current self would be a little less overwhelmed. But you know what? I’d also be regretful.

I’d regret that I took time away from my friend to do something that really didn’t matter, that could totally be done later. Instead, I soaked up every second I had with her and just relaxed.

And that’s when it hit me. I spend far too much time worrying about “getting things done” so I don’t have to “worry about it later” instead of just enjoying the time I have. But that’s silly, because there will always be things that need to be done. No matter how hard I work, there is always stuff to do, a constant stream of things to catch up on. I can’t just forever be fully “done”. But I worry myself to death trying to get “caught up” on things, and then miss out on LIFE. The world will not explode if I wait a few days (or even weeks) to answer that email. And yet I seem to live like it will.

(And yes, I totally wrote a post very similar to this same topic back in February titled Moment by Moment, but it takes me about 346 years to actually learn these lessons, so here I am, learning it all over again. And forcing you to read my rambles about it once more. Because my blog is often where I braindump and sort out my thoughts and you all have to suffer through my rambles with me. *cackles*)

My friend and I only get to see each other about twice a year. (We used to live in the same town, but her family moved when we were 13 and yes, it stinks but we make the best of it.) Because we only get so much time together, I try my very best to soak up the time I do have with her. Spending hours of our time together on the computer does not fit into that equation. Not to mention, sometimes we just need breaks from the computer! Whether it’s your career or not, we can’t spend our entire lives in front of a screen.

During my week at my friend’s house, even on some days when she had to work, I used my time to just relax. Instead of snagging my laptop, I picked up a book. Instead of tweeting, I scrolled through Pinterest (because Pinterest unwinds me and is my happy place). I used any free time to just do things that relaxed me, tasks I loved and that caused no stress. Yes, I LOVE blogging and connecting with everyone on social media and writing. It’s one of my greatest joys, literally my livelihood. But sometimes we need a break from even those things and to just allow ourselves to be blissfully lazy now and again. Sometimes watching an entire season of Gravity Falls with your bestie (yes, we totally did that *cough*) is way more important than being on top of emails.

After my week in her town, we came to my town and spent basically every second with friends here. One of our dearest friends is literally moving this week to somewhere that’s 11 hours away. Many states away from me! *sobs for an eternity* (And let’s not even talk about the fact that her sister, my other dearest, dearest friend may end up moving eventually, too.) So yes, I’m now about to go through my other dear friend moving away from me. (Because having one friend move wasn’t fun enough. Eheheheheh…heh. *sobs some more*)

As a result, I spent the past week soaking up every single second I had with all my friends because I knew our time together was limited. And I didn’t want to waste a single second of it.

Now, I’m not saying by any means that we shouldn’t be productive. Making careers and working toward goals and living intentionally to achieve our dreams is so, so, so important. (And something I’ve been thinking a lot about as well.) Sometimes we do need to set aside time to work, or to turn down that lunch date to instead edit the next chapter of your novel because there’s a deadline looming. That’s just life. Being productive is a beautiful thing, and something I admire in people. If I had the chance to watch an entire season of a television show in one week with a friend every week I’d prooobably have to decline. But, as I said, since I only see this friend a couple of times a year (and we both just really love TV shows and spend about 96% of our time together fangirling over things) it was something I was perfectly happy doing.

No, we should definitely not spend every moment of our day doing recreational activities. But what these past couple of weeks taught me is that we should soak up the time we do have. I very intentionally let loose any fears and stress for the future during my hiatus and just enjoyed my time with friends. I soaked up each moment, and now have those memories to treasure forever.

Sure, I’m ridiculously behind on things now, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t trade these past weeks for a cleared out inbox for anything in the world.

As they say, the present is called the present because it’s a GIFT. The future is unknown and can worry about itself. But the here and now, it’s what we have. And it should never be taken for granted. Don’t get me wrong, we should certainly set goals for our futures and reach for our dreams, but that doesn’t mean we should be missing out on the moments we’re living now. If I’m guilty of anything, it’s that. Lately time has just been flying and I’ve been in regret of all the time I’m wasting. And I think the source of that is because I’m so constantly focused on the future, I’m not being still and just enjoying the now.

This hit harder than ever last year when someone very close to me passed away. In fact, there were multiple deaths of acquaintances last year. And as I’ve seen people pass away and experience friends move miles from where I live, I realize more than ever, the present really is a gift. We don’t know what we’ll have or not have in the future. But this moment, right now, we do have.

So let’s choose our priorities wisely. Let’s enjoy the moments we have. Let’s soak them up. Let’s let loose our stress and fears for the future and live intentionally, seeing the moment we have now for the beautiful gift it is.

(Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be spending the next few days catching up on all those millions of things I’m behind on and probably ignoring my life because actually applying the lessons I’ve learned is not my strong suit… *cough, cough, COUGH*)

 

Sorry for the braindump and the serious turn this took! The post was really just supposed to be a quicky one letting you all know I’m back and sharing some thoughts I’ve had but…well, my “thoughts” tend to be longwinded, so here we are. But now I want to hear your thoughts! Do you soak up the moments as they happen, or, like me, are you so worried about the future and getting things done you let the present pass you by? I’M SO GUILTY HALP. What tips do you have for enjoying the present and not worrying about the future? Any good ways to find the balance of living in the here and now but still being productive? (Because I am on an eternal search for this balance!) ALSO. What’s been going on with you??? Like I said, I’ve been cut off from everyone for two weeks. I’VE MISSED YOU ALL. Tell me how life is going. I want to hear it all!!!

{Notice} Brief Hiatus

Heeeey, guys!

I’m dropping in for a quicky announcement. I won’t be posting for the next couple of weeks at least. I’m off tomorrow to spend a week with my bestie (who lives out of town), and then she’ll probably come back with me and stay with us for a while. Thus obviously I’m not going to spend hours of our time together putting together a blog post. I was going to try to be on top of things and pre-write some posts but… Me? On top of things? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Ahem, so yes, that didn’t happen.

But you guys will be okay without me, right? Riiight?

I also probably won’t be commenting on blogs or emailing or much of anything like that during this time. But I assure you, I’LL RETURN. Probably in the latter half of September. You can’t get rid of me! *CACKLES*

 

 

I hope you all have an amazing first part of September! (Except hooooooowwwwwwwww is it September??????? *mini panic attack*)