Episode #234: Do You Challenge Yourself Like This?

A question I'd asked on FB to a similar pic taken at the exact same Dollar Tree store (on a serious note: it's my favorite go-to discount store, as it has a better corporate vibe than Dollar General and ten times cleaner, and this store is one of the newer ones with items in the $3 & $5 range too) was "what month is I in?"

Best answer given so far was "Jultober".

Over the course of the past 15+ years of writing, I've always asked myself, as well as my muse, "have I rehabilitated myself?" "have I challenged myself as a writer?". More often than not, I would utter a 70's pop culture meme, before answering "have I?"

Which is a pretty funny thing to say to yourself, but to cereal up for a moment, I like to think I have. For example, back in 2008, I decided to challenge myself by blogging, and 16+ years later, through one active and five archival blogs, I done wrote, not including this one, 2,081 blog posts. Think about that for a hot minute: this means I posted anywhere from one to six blog posts a week since 2008, with only two short vaca breaks in the early 2010s as interruptions. So I guess that can count as a successful challenge.

Let's see....what else have I done as a challenge....oh yes. Back in the day when I was deciding to become a writer (I think 2007 or a bit earlier) I decided that I was going to write EROTICA! and make my living doing that. Even bought a "how-to" book on writing/submitting/publishing erotica. Suffice to say, my early stuff was perfect script material for adult movies, but not for the general public. So, that was an unsuccessful challenge.

I did successfully switch gears to writing adult (18+/21+) fiction, and it's something I've become remarkably comfortable in doing. I also became quite comfortable in writing fantasy, because I found it to be the only genre that allowed me to explore all facets of life, both current and historical, that I wouldn't get raked over the coals for (I mean, can one really be raked over for creating a whole new world, new people and a new language?), so that makes a total of three successful challenges. Oh and completed a side challenge in that my daughter has stated that she will not read any of my current writing. So let's make that a half completion.

Let's see....oh yeah, I challenged myself to write a story in a genre that I normally don't write in. To elaborate, while I enjoy ready all kinds of age appropriate material, that doesn't necessarily mean that I want to actually WRITE age appropriate material. But, the challenge was issued, so I managed to bang out a 100% legitimately age appropriate (MG, aka middle grade I believe) short story entitled Cedar Mountain, which can found in this nifty short story collection called What Is Life?. So let's consider this to be a successful challenge.

Think G.B., think...oh, I challenged myself to get published the traditional way. So a book I was extremely gung-ho in writing (I think it took me six months tops from beginning to end), became the guinea pig to this challenge. In 2012, I was able to have traditionally published The Inner Sibling, under the name Line 21 (lots of issues on my part for its failure to launch, including the initial title). So we considered that to be a successful writing challenge as well.

What, you want one more challenge? Well, this next one is an ongoing challenge with no real end in sight. After my basement gained a couple inches of H2O in 2021, I was able to salvage three nominally completed manuscripts and a partial. After reworking the three completed and publishing one of them: The Mortality of Familial Love, I decide to take a crack at working on the partial. 

By the beginning of 2022, my hands were pretty much shot, as it applied to my keyboarding skills (on a good day, my speed was about 14 +/- wpm). So I made the conscious decision to write the old fashioned way: pen and paper, then transcribe the finished product to the computer. Now this particular manuscript has been extensively covered for the past 2+ years on this blog, but I will say that one side challenge that has been presently successful, is that I've been able to do deeper dives/character explorations while writing the old fashioned way, which has really made me grow as a writer.

So what we have here for a record is 5 1/2 challenges completed and 1 unsuccessfully completed challenge. I think I've done pretty well for myself in regards to challenging myself as a writer. Oh, I just thought of another. In addition to challenging myself to get traditionally published, I also challenged myself to get a short story published, and I succeeded with two, the aforementioned Cedar Mountain and and another entitled Red Stripe, both of which are found in the short story collection mentioned above.

So the corrected record now stands at 6 1/2 to the positive and 1 to the negative. Overall, I think I managed to accomplish quite a bit as a newbie-ish writer. I think I need to find a few more writing challenges for myself. 

Have a fantastic week everyone!

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