Have you ever seen the step you need to take, and been afraid to make the jump? Did you know the direction your life/job/career needed to go, but the thought of leaving your comfort zone just didn’t make logical sense? I’ve found myself in this place lately, and let me tell you, living the life God calls you to is exhilarating.
Let me start by saying: NO! I’m not moving, I’m not quitting my job, and we’re not having another baby. 🙂 Now that those elephants are handled, let’s talk about living your life to accomplish your dreams.
My wife and I have been discussing life and goals and how to be who we want to be. It’s easy to stagnate in life, and we’ve decided we won’t be those people. We found a blog post that posed the question: If you live the next five years, doing exactly what you’ve done today, will you accomplish your goals? Will you be who you want to be? Those questions hit me hard, and have challenged my view of daily life.
I’ve always been a creative storyteller. My mom can tell you of a 3 year old me telling her tales of running away with animals and having adventures in imaginary worlds. I dabbled here and there in writing those adventures as I grew up, but nothing significant ever came from those. My creative life was overtaken by watching movies, and playing video games. My desire to create dried up. Let’s be honest: It’s easier to consume than to create.
That’s not who I want to be. If I want to have a book published, I need to be writing every day! What we spend our time on is so vastly important. The crossroads I find myself at can be summed up in a quote by J.R. Tolkien: “It’s the job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.” It’s time for me to get to work!
Over the past two years I’ve been stirring up my creativity and have dusted off those dreams. Last July I attended the Realm Makers writers conference in St Louis, Missouri. I walked in with wide eyes and unsure steps of who I was as a writer. I left with new vision, courage, some amazing friends, and new tools to improve my craft.
This week I’ll be travelling to Philadelphia to attend my second Realm Makers conference. I’m diving in this year with several goals, chiefest among them is to learn some practical habits. I don’t have a draft to pitch, but I have decided on a project to focus on. With one story in mind, I’m planning on picking the brains of a few authors and learning about the things I don’t even think about. I’m setting goals and taking the steps to accomplish them.
I plan on pumping out some more stories. I can’t promise that all of them will be good (I’ll try) but I need to put out content. Right now practicing my craft is the most important step on my writing journey.
If you’re interested in reading one of my stories, I have a fantasy story featured on Splickety’s Lightning Blog today. Click here to check out The Broken Door. I really enjoyed writing this piece, and I even had the privilege of having the talented Ben Wolf edit, and work with me on this story.
Ask yourself this question: If I lived today for the next five years, would I be closer to achieving my dreams? What are the dreams that God has hidden in your heart? Set some goals. What practical steps do you need to take to meet them? Now go do it!
Dream on, but live life! Your dreams can be reached when you take practical steps to reach them. It’s up to you to do the work.
Good stuff Josh. Have a good time this week!