Screw the drama and the negativity that’s rampant in today’s reality.
It doesn’t get permission to rule you.
Screw cliche end-of-the-year bragging about the lists of my accomplishments this year.
Creating stories people can laugh with and enjoy means more than, “Look what I did! Gold star for me!”
This New Year’s Eve, it’s all about finding what you have to say.
You-friend and reader-have a voice. I don’t just mean the one you use to belt out songs in the car when no one else is listening. Doesn’t matter if you’re an average person, a writer, or an artist, but especially if you are:
You. Have. Something. To. Say.
I’ve been writing long enough to attend classes, conventions, critique groups, and coffee shop write-ins. Well over half of the skilled and passionate writers I’ve met say the same shy shit pretty dadgum often. “I don’t really think I have anything to say.”
Same goes for artists.
And bloggers.
And creators.
“Eh, I don’t have much to say.”
This goofnugget writer’s here to show you that yes, you do.
You’ve got. A lot. To say.
Maybe you haven’t found it yet, but it’s there.
Your drive to create stories and artwork doesn’t NEED “Something to say” going in. There don’t gotta be a point or message or some genius-level-intellect reason for your sci-fi novel or your romance short story.
Write the thing. Create the thing. Because you love it. Or because you always wanted to explore a world or a relationship.
It’d be bassackwards as hell if you needed the go-ahead from some robe-wrapped writing god with a huge pen in order to create stories.
Take that as you may.
Every bestseller and every writer who craves bestseller status started as a person who had no clue what they were doing. They discovered their voices and what they had to say through writing. It wasn’t genius, and it ain’t ever easy. Those jackholes who say it IS easy are blowing hot air out of every nostril, orifice, and sphincter they got.
But it’s friggin’ worth it to find what you have to say.
Discover what it is you’ve got to say by doing the writing. Write every day, or a few times a week. Create art every waking moment or in the half hour before bed. That’s how you find what you have to say.
It might take a book or three. It might involve rejection, depression, and obsession. You have something to say. Your voice matters.
Find it. Keep building it.
Grow that confidence and belt out what you find when you find it. Cheer it to the heavens and shake your bohunkus in celebration, then keep writing and building.
You’re brilliant. The world’s waiting to share in that brilliance with you.
Every writer and artist I’ve had the honor and pleasure of working with to create The Reaper’s Case Notes and Commanding The Swarm has my most sincere thanks. Namely, Beki Yopek, Nate Mosser, Haley Sulich, Kathy Steffen, Megan Hall, Bruce Landay, Brittany Gibson, Kira Holmes, Lori Devoti, and everyone from the Middleton Creative Writers and the University of Wisconsin-Madison crew responsible for the Writer’s Institute. Y’all kept this guy’s brain fed despite my constant brain farts. To those I brain farted and forgot to mention: You're brilliant.
Coming next year:
-Querying agents with Commanding The Swarm. Silvan. Will. Get. Published.
-Writing Second Shift Souls, a hero-villain cosplay story series set in the same world as The Reaper’s Case Notes. Yep, we’re going to the big cities of Hell and the Midwest.
-Spreading this blog to Wattpad and other social medial platforms.
-First draft writings of a new novel. Possibly time-travel. Possibly magicians. Possibly epic fantasy. Possibly thriller. Haven’t decided yet, but I love ‘em all so they’re gonna happen.
Happy New Year, and let’s make 2018 the happiest, most adventuresome year yet!