Here is a snippet from today's prompt from my friends at #trust30 a la Ralph Waldo Emerson & Matt Cheuvront:
Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
and from Matt Cheuvront: "Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.
"The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?"
First, a disclaimer: I find all of these prompts in this challenge to be valuable but some would require me to take all day to work out all the steps. I am using them in a much more shallow way. I see them as neon arrows which I will continue to follow over time. I can't possibly do all the work for all of them while doing everything else I need to get done in my day.
It doesn't mean I am not conscious to them throughout the days after I leave missing links undone, it is just not humanly possible to synch up everything and rather than letting it all go, I am going to continue, instead, to do the best I can with the time I've got.
This prompt did two important things: reminded me of a "whoa that was a long time ago I took myself seriously" goal and put it on paper and then... find the roadmap I bought around that last time I took this all seriously. It must have been at least six years ago that I took a Summer off from my life work to figure out how to start a publishing company. I never did it though.
I have been an epublisher for many years. I took it more seriously ten years or so ago, and then my life fell apart several years after that and no, I don't talk about that anymore because I got bored with it. This prompt, this convergence of one of my favorite transcendentalists and me has reignited what I started long ago.
I bought a book about starting my publishing company, I talked about starting my company, but in the 30 Day Plan to publish a book, I got tangled up in the first week assignments of "Write a Business Plan" and "Write Your Financial Plan." Ugh. My biggest obstacle, after all, is not believing I ever have enough money in the first place so those three words "Your" and "Financial" and "Plan" all in the same line are enough for me to break out in hives.
I laugh as I read that now.
I laugh because it is so true, still!
And perhaps a part of this love-fest with Ralph Waldo Emerson IS about trusting myself to finally get past these obstacles ~ especially those squishy uncomfortable "I never have enough money, anyway, so why bother?" obstacles.
This morning when I had this a-ha for the bajillionth time I asked myself the perennial question I have heard (and asked) over and over and over again, "If money were no object, what would you do first?"
I took the book off the shelf: The Publishing Game by Fern Reiss. I read the first week's assignment and I didn't choke or hold back. I remembered how simple it all looked, even though I am not sure... well, perhaps... yes, I need to commit to doing this.
Without excuses this time.
One book at a time.
I also checked out Kickstarter.com as a means of possible funding.
And then I started with a list to create the funding from my own resources as in developing more proudcts, offering more writing camps, finishing some of my other projects and bringing them to market.
I visited Fern Reiss to see if she is still around, still doing her Publishing thing and yes she is. I took her topics for her September Publishing Workshop in Boston and started googling them and figured, once again, "Hey, this is completely possible. I can, indeed, do this."
This isn't as exhaustive as the initial prompt. It may even be fewer words than the original prompt, but it has worked out several important details in my mind and in my heart.
I definitely want to do this.
It is a part of my "7 Days to Live" from yesterday ~ I want to curate my life work and this is the beginning of that.. and even more fun is reaching out and curating with others. I have so many friends with lovely writing voices. My students, for example, and my students yet to be.
And so many more.
What am I waiting for? Nothing, anymore, except for my own stubborn foot stomping and the dust it kicks up to bubble down. The air is clear and smells great.
I am diving in.
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Julie Jordan Scott
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