If you read my relaunch post, you’ll know that I’ll be doing a daily(ish) journal here that is opt-in only. If you want to get pinged for this journal, you’ll need to navigate to the settings for your The Write Books subscription and toggle on notifications for The Daily(ish) Journal. (I’m assuming when I post this you won’t get an email, but if you do let me know and I’ll figure out the settings).
I say “ish” in the title because I will likely observe the Sabbath and if life comes up on other days, I don’t want to be up writing a post at 11pm. But by and large you will see daily content from me here. And for that reason I’m leaving it as opt-in only. I understand overwhelm and I want these posts to be fun and helpful, never a burden. But if you want to get on a daily email list, I’m honored!
Meditation:
I mentioned in the announcement post that I will begin these with an Aurelius-esque “note to self” about life. Maybe this will be in the first person, maybe in the second, but if anything is to be taken as advice, please don’t consider it holier than thou or authoritative. I’m an expert in a few fields but life isn’t quite one of them yet. I’m giving it a go, though, and I suspect you are too, so maybe I’ll say something that helps.
Today I’ve been thinking about this George MacDonald quote:
God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.
I’m not actually going to address what that means as far as God today. Instead, I want to think about how I believe much wisdom given by theologians and in the Bible itself applies laterally, as well as vertically (to speak metaphorically, obviously God is not “up there”). And by laterally, I mean between people and within ourselves. “Ask and ye shall receive” is as good of interpersonal relationship advice as it is an expression of God’s character. And if the goal of life is to be more like God (I would say Christlike), then this MacDonald quote is probably a very good attitude to adopt.
So, in the realm of writing we are trying to put words on a page. We are trying to make them the best we can in that moment. If you’re like me, you’re trying to hit some word count goals to keep things moving forward. So, what does it look like to be easily pleased but satisfied only with great difficulty? I think it means we should be happy if we do literally anything that takes us a step towards our goals. For writing, this is 200 words rather than nothing, even if our goal is 2000. We are not satisfied with 200 but we are moving the right way and that is cause for joy. The “hard to satisfy” goal gives us something to reach for, but every step on the path is to be regarded as a good thing worthy of celebration. This can be extrapolated out to all endeavors, including moral development. Do you yell at drivers on the freeway, as I do sometimes? Every day that we practice self-control and refrain from doing that we should be pleased with our efforts and progress. We should be satisfied (i.e., feel ourselves completely accomplished) only when we never do it. Ideally when the thought and impulse ceases to occur.
Ultimately, the “lateral” application of this quote is about keeping in mind a vision (the “journey of a thousand miles”) that orients us but taking pleasure in every single step along the journey. I suck at this pretty bad some days. But as with all things for us human beings, it’s a work in progress.
I guess that one ended up in first person like I was talking to you, dear reader. But I’m talking to myself as well.
Writing:
I’m something like 4/5ths done with my upcoming new novel (I’m not certain because I don’t outline, which is something I’ll talk about in other posts). I’ll give you more news as we approach the release date but I’m thinking about two weeks to finish and then a couple more weeks in editing and design. Hoping to have it available for purchase (or sent out to you wonderful paid supporters) by early October at the latest. We’ll see how that shakes down.
Reading:
You’ll come to find out if you dive into this journal (and surely some forthcoming essays) that I am an unapologetic Nora Roberts fan. If you think she writes trash, I urge you to take a second look. In other journal entries and essays I’ll talk about her consummate professionalism and how she should be an inspiration to popular authors everywhere, but for now suffice to say that I consider her the best writer in the sort of grocery-store-bookshelf-ultra-bestseller squad by a long mile. A good starting place if you’re curious is her phenomenal Born in Fire (the whole trilogy is great).
Right now I’m reading Nora’s Black Hills. Only about a fifth of the way in, so too soon to have a full opinion of the book but like with all her books, the woman can set a scene like nobody’s business and her work always has stellar characters. Characters are what I care about most in books (it’s the highest compliment when people say they loved the characters in my work), and Nora creates them with the best of writers. I’m only 100 pages into this book and I can name everyone in the cast and tell you about them and I care about them already. This is very hard to do as a writer and Nora does it with incredible ease. I respect the hell out of her, and her books are super fun to read for this reason, among others.
Viewing:
I finally saw Barbie and it was fantastic. I don’t want to get into any debates and have people project their politics all over this movie, but you should just give it a watch and draw your own conclusions. I suspect it’s a movie that people are going to see what they want to see in it and if nothing else that makes it a compelling work of art. I’m letting it simmer but I’m thinking it is vying for a Top Ten spot on my personal list. Just give it a watch and leave your preconceived ideas at the door and see what you think (and not what you’re supposed to think).
Ciao:
That’s a wrap for today. If you want to chat about anything in the comments, I’ll get to it if I can. And I’ll see you tomorrow (probably). Have a great evening.