Zestful Blog Post #300
Before I get into this post, I want you to know I’ll be teaching
online this coming Saturday, January 26, in the Writer's Digest Virtual Conference for Novelists. Mine is
the kickoff slot, at 1 p.m. My one-hour presentation will be “Supercharge Your
Plot.” This is the earliest notice I can give, which I know isn’t much. But we’ll
have a good time, so consider joining me and the other fine presenters. I might
also note that Royal Caribbean canceled the sail date of the mystery-writing /
forensics cruise I was so excited about, due to mechanical issues with the ship
and drydock conflicts. But we’re hoping to reschedule that trip, again in partnership
with Royal Caribbean and GoTravel.
On to today’s business.
I’ve been blogging weekly for almost six years now, ever
since You’ve Got a Book in You
launched. And I’ve been thinking of taking a break, or ending the blog
permanently. One’s life has seasons. I feel the need to spend more time
creating other stuff, doing different things. And as I watched post #300
approach, I thought such a nice round number would be a good place to conclude,
or at least pause, this blog. Zestful Writing has led to a lot of cool
interactions, both in the comments section and via email, and I’ll miss that. Writing
a weekly essay also makes you come up with ideas, think through your points and
support them, and write as clearly and concisely as you can. That’s been
valuable.
But thinking up a weekly post, writing it, making a
photograph or sketch (or finding a free image on line), cropping and editing that
image, uploading the whole thing and responding to comments—all that takes up
my writing time and energy for a day per week. That’s a pretty big commitment.
I intend to make a book from the best of these posts, after I get through some
more projects.
Which, yeah. Having given a lot of consideration to the
questions I posed in last week’s post (Zestful
Blog Post 299), I know I need to write more books at a brisker pace. Need
to explore my fictional worlds further, and invent new ones. I want to write
more nonfiction, including more good stuff for writers, and I want to teach
more workshops, both in person and online. I need to simplify things where I
can. As I’ve noted here before, one’s time is a zero-sum game, and our days on
this earth are finite. If you know what your mission is, it’s a sin not to
serve that mission. I intend to put out my newschats a bit more frequently, so
if you’d like to keep up with me and all forthcoming work, please be sure you’re
on that list, which is a different list
from this blog. Sign up HERE.
I guess one should never say never, so who knows but what I might
start this blog up again someday. But for now, farewell. Do stay tuned via the
newschat, because I want to keep in touch with you. After all, you’re why I’m
here.
Love,
Elizabeth
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