If it Makes you Happy: 3 things I lacked that prevented me from writing a novel
A photo I took of an off-brand GI Joe style action figure that belongs to my son. I like to refer to this as Jason Stathem. I’ve always wanted to do a long photo series with him. Here is Jason Stathem with a jar of homemade pumpkin butter.
So, it’s January and 2025. And things have been pretty bleak since the inauguration. I don’t plan on spending a lot of time on that today. There will definitely need to be times when we have some hard conversations this year, but I don’t know that I can do that today. And maybe we all need a bit of a break. As always, be good to each other.
I will take a moment, however, to point you to a website — https://p25e.org — which was launched last year by Alexandra Lustig in the wake of Project 2025. The site is called Project 2025 Explained, has as download to the PDF, and tries to explain some of the details from the project. It’s a site I’ve been supporting and Alexandra is currently working on updates such as a tracker based on things that are shoved out in executive orders or by laws (the tracker just launched). There are already some items from Project 2025 put into action by executive orders this past week.
I asked Alexandra to provide me a quote for this newsletter. In her own words:
“I created the website last year when I realized the very existence of this manifesto was being actively denied. I felt compelled to create a site where people could learn about the Mandate for Leadership and The Heritage Foundation, their motivations, backgrounds, authors, and funding without bias (as much as possible). Now that it’s actually being implemented, I try to keep it up to date with more research, news, and a newly-added tracker. All of the work is done by me with support from generous people like Nat!”
When you have time and energy, maybe take a look.
A few items.
We have two new paid subscribers: Chris Brown and Sarah Becker. I appreciate them joining the ranks. THANKS SO MUCH! And they have been added to the About page as well. Moving into 2025, I hope to collaborate some with the paid members on some cool features. Such as gifting Nat’s Letters to freebie subscribers (which I’m currently calling Paywall Vetoes).
Towards the last half of 2024, I launched a Facebook Messenger Community chat which has been a cool way to connect outside of the newsletter emails. But it’s in early access and not available to everyone. Due to recent Meta decisions I’m considering my options on whether to keep it up or move somewhere else safer. You can read my thoughts on that here, but mainly I’d appreciate it if you used the Google Form below to vote on platforms you wouldn’t mind using.
3 things I lacked that prevented me from writing a novel.
Originally published June 1, 2020, for a writing community called Totally Novel which is now defunct.
When I was younger, I wrote a lot of short stories, first chapters, and prologues. I had no problem banging out short stories, though I always wanted to write novels. And I sometimes had ideas for novels too — that's how I ended up with a lot of first chapters and prologues. But I could never follow through and write a full manuscript. Writing long form like that just wasn't in my blood, I thought. I could write short stories and full-length screen plays, but novels just weren't my jive.
I thought.
You see, I lacked certain things or thought I lacked certain things to help make it possible. Today I'm gonna try and zone in on those, and hopefully this exercise will help you realize your potential too. Or perhaps make you stronger in your novel writing prowess.
I was lacking focus.
One of my major roadblocks in writing a novel was my ability, or lack thereof, to focus. I had a hard time starting a long project and seeing it through, because inevitably another idea would crop up and I'd want to do that instead. All my energies would refocus, and I'd be left with another first chapter or prologue or half-assed outline. It just seemed I couldn't see it through in the time it took to get it done. I even tried writing an entire first draft over 2 days once. I did it — but it was rough as one would expect. So rough I haven't gone back to it since, even though it's an important book to me.
What I didn't know at the time, and what I eventually wanted to toss up to just not having the talent, was that I suffered with bipolar. That bipolar gave me plenty of hypomanic and hyper-focus moments, where I'd be able to focus on something like crazy for a bit, but then that focus would drift to another thing, and it would stay there. By the time I'd realized I had left the other novel behind, I was long far from it.
But focus can be an issue for many of us, especially if the ideas are always coming in.
Here's some handy things I wished I'd thought of early on:
Learn to prioritize your ideas. When a new idea comes in, enjoy it for a brief moment, but file it away somehow. Remind yourself that you can come back to that idea later and run with it once you're done with your current project.
Create a brainstew folder. Create some way to file away new ideas that are undeveloped. I usually have a category in my note-taking app called brainstew. That's where I might write out a paragraph or two of notes on the idea as it came to me. If you want to get really organized, you can categorize ideas by genres for quick reference later. This helps if you have a writing contest or anthology pop up later, something you want to submit to but has a deadline looming, because your ideas are neatly categorized for you already.
I was lacking confidence.
As I've hinted at a little already, I was lacking the confidence I needed to tell myself I could do it. I was convinced at a point I couldn't do it and never would produce a novel on my own. I went from having the full confidence I could write anything as a younger person to thinking I could only write certain things. That some things were just too far out of my reach. That I just didn't have it in me.
That was my anxiety and depression talking. I didn't know it at the time, but after getting a diagnosis and treatment, it finally occurred to me that I could. And I wanted to. I just had to reel in my focus, pick some good habits, and not stop until it was done. And deadlines. I'm a big fan of deadlines.
I allowed myself a space to get organized:
I picked apps for productivity (I wasn't allowed to change them once writing started). I'd use Google Keep for notes and Microsoft Excel for outlining.
I chose an app for drafting. I chose a barebones note app called Notes for Android and used their Dropbox sync to back it up to the cloud. I had a cheap RCA Android tablet with keyboard attachment and I wrote almost the entire first draft on that little thing.
I picked a day and time of the week that I would sit down and write as much as I could. Typically, 2-3 chapters per session.
I originally told myself I'd write, edit, and self-publish within 6 months. After several months of writing, I realized that was too tight of a deadline. But writing the first draft in 6 months, I could do that. Due to lost time of being a stay-at-home-dad first, I finished a few weeks late. I was satisfied with that.
More than satisfied.
I had finally told myself I was going to do it and did it, despite all the usual things trying to tell me otherwise. Voices in our heads be damned.
I was lacking time.
I've talked about time a little bit, but let's talk about that. Another big factor about being convinced I couldn't write a novel was that I just didn't have the time. There just wasn't enough hours during the day, during the week, during the month, during the year.
Now, everyone's schedule is totally different, I get that. And I don't want to be a presumptuous moron. But if we look at our schedule, we can usually find a period where we could work in writing. Maybe it's realizing you spend most nights on Netflix, or gaming, or what have you. Forfeit some Netflix. Forfeit some gaming. I wrote mostly on Monday and Wednesday evenings, but in the beginning I was only doing Monday nights. I'd usually start late in the evening and work until about midnight. I’m not gonna lie, I spent most of those Monday nights in a Denny's because they were the closest thing that was open all night.
I'm not saying everyone has time now but look hard at your schedule. Are there a few hours you can carve out? Do you go to school or work at a school? You might find that if your work is seasonal, you'll have better results writing during certain months of the year, and that's ok. Use those off months to do smaller, less intensive writing tasks. Because I'm a stay-at-home-dad, and full-time student, I definitely find a big shift in my schedule every so often to fit around my son’s schedule.
One thing that helped me a lot was treating my writing like work. No one ever says, "I don't have time for a job. I don't have time to make money, I’m too busy sleeping.” But seriously, deciding to treat my writing like a job or career changed my outlook on it. When I started out, I didn’t call the nights I wrote "writing nights.” I simply called them "work nights" and scheduled them on the family calendar as such. That encompassed writing a novel and working on my blog at the time. It's all work. And we always seem to have time for work.
Conclusion: you can do this.
The final word on all of this, whether you've done it once or a thousand times, is that it can be done. You can write a novel. It may not be easy for you and it may be easier for others. But you can't focus on that. You just have to focus on what works for you, and how to get through it your way. Be like Frank Sinatra and do it your way.
“If it Makes you Happy” by Sheryl Crow.
With all the hate in the world right now, I can’t help but think about a line from a Sheryl Crow song. It’s one I think of from time-to-time, espeically within the context of religious types who are filled with hate of those that are without their own community. The line goes, “If it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad.” I think it also works as “if it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so mad.” It will always be wild to me when people who claim to have so much joy and hope in their religion are often so angry and filled with hate. It should make one question what their faith is really doing for them, if this is how they behave. If it makes you feel hate towards others, and desire to take their freedoms away, what is it really about? Enjoy the music and stay safe out there. Be good to each other, and don’t be a dick.
