What exactly have I been doing instead of writing emails and blog posts and loving on all of you subscribers and readers?
Sending my besties reels on Instagram.
The last one I sent was Stephanie Tanner hosting a flash mob in the Full House living room with the caption “When the girls finally get together after rescheduling 8,257 times.” I challenged my besties (in a group chat called “sisters”) to a choreographed dance sequence when we finally get together.
I’ve also been writing a new vampire novel. Well, not a new novel, but a rewrite of the vampire novel. Our old friend Blue Francis Hastings, the GenX time traveling vampire I’ve been writing since 2018. It’s got a cool romantasy vibe to it now which is fun.
It’ll be a while to get finished, revised, and alpha-read before I’m looking for betas, but if vampire romance is your jam, send me a note and I’ll get you a beta position or an ARC.
::runstoinstagramlookingforromantasyreels::
Instagram reels is how my friends and I have been staying connected and we’re not alone. Most of my 40-something acquaintances admit to exchanging reels with their own besties. Life is busy. We live far apart. There’s election chaos around every corner and it’s only going to get worse. What’s a girl to do?
Laugh at reels featuring Kevin Hart explaining best friends (long clip here). My bullshit is your bullshit. Of course it is.
But writing is a solomente project. All by my lonesome. And for as awesome as my writing pals are and keep being, writing by myself has been hard. I can find 99 other things to do. Most of those things are the things I get paid for, and to be fair, I should probably prioritize those, right?
But 99 of them?
Nah, you’re right. Writing this vampire novel has got to get some priority. Which is why I’m blogging. I know, it seems counterintuitive, because blogging could actually be another (yet another!) procrastination activity. BUT actually, this writing is important.
It’s loosening up the fingers. Sinking deeper into the couch. Immersing myself in the soundtrack. And warming me up. Like a good stretch before a run.
Yeah. Just like that. Imma go crush like 2000 words in the novel. Or maybe more. I could be on a roll.
Truthfully, the novel was stalling. Flagging. Sagging. Lagging. And then I went to Birmingham and met up with my girl Jodie Cain Smith. Wickedly talented storyteller and novelist and we broke this novel down into its bare bones. And unlocked the locked stuff.
And I wrote 10,000 words in a week.
So, maybe what I need is more visits with my friends. More space to be creative. More wild adventures like Birmingham’s convention district with its corporate restaurants and parking garages with one-way-ramps.
Just gotta do the thing. Make progress. Small steps okay. No steps not okay. How’s that for self-coaching?
What have you self-coached your way through? Did it work? What are your best tactics for overcoming blocks and challenges in hard tasks?
Unapologetically X 