It is Not Too Late to Reach for Your Writer Dreams
Focus and reducing distractions can be an uphill battle.
If you are an aspiring writer stuck between the beginning of your writer dream and accomplished writer, this article is for you.
2009 was the first time I consider writing was something I wanted to do. Before that writing was something, I was not that great at. I did not practice at it. Asked for help when writing employee reviews. It was a painful moment when I had to create any writing. More times than not, I enlisted the help of others who had degree master writing better than me.
I was in the position of earlier retirement at age 57 and wanted to do something different. The forty-year life span of my working career, to that point, had not been in one occupation. The first 10 years comprised lineman, cable splicer, service representative, accounting. I spent the next 30 years in Information Technology. Spending several years at a time in one field and then moving into another discipline. From desktop support, server, applications, networks, both in management and non-management positions.
From 2009 to 2019, we move from the Seattle are to Northern Nevada. I spent eighty percent of my time volunteering. Twenty percent helping local business with technology challenges. I learned an enormous amount about small rural communities during this period.
In that 10-year span I also learned more about distractions but only after stepping away and looking back.
Roger, the writer’s journey, beginning in 2009 to 2019.
I began writing and collecting writing ideas and thought in OneNote. Once they have developed into articles, then I created word documents for further editing. From there I flushed out the ideas and they sat there while I allowed distractions and others to consume my time. Not the best for me, but I allowed it to happen. Someone always needs my help. I was an overly generous person with my time.
With my background in technology, I noticed many writers had websites and soon learned how to set up Blogger, then WordPress for websites. With this newfound knowledge, I was helping local business setup business websites, mostly for a small trade of the business services. I became proficient at WordPress and was supporting 15 websites by 2014.
May 2014
I discovered Medium.com, signed up, and was off reading and learning about writing. This was my first proper focus on writing, but I was only reading and not publishing.
January 2018
I signed up for the Medium Partner Program because I want to read many of the articles that were behind the paywall. I was glad to and considered I was supporting other writers.
April 2019
Then on April 1, 2019, I published my first article on Medium.com. I published eleven straight days in a row. The articles I published took me weeks to create and edit and the edit again, but I got them published. I ran out of ready to publish articles. There was another distraction. But I published from time to time, I am glad that I did because it was an encouragement to myself to not give up on what you want to accomplish.
May 2019
We had considered moving to Northern California since late 2017. I had several job interviews and one that was about to get one in May when I declined the offer. We would still move without a job distraction, so I could continue with my writing desires untethered. This was a big decision for both of us and to date a great one.
I notified all the organizations that I helped that effective December 31, 2019; I was no longer helping them and suggested they contact local service providers to carry on assisting them. I moved all but one of my customers by November. They made the move to a new provider just before year’s end.
September 2019
September 16, 2019, I published an article about Clyde, a foster Doberman, which we fostered until November 2020. We had never fostered a dog before. We adopted all our fur kids to this point, 6 dogs and 9 cats over our 30 years of marriage. We fostered Clyde for six months. When Clyde arrived, he was 10 months old. This was a change for us who have adopted fur kids who were further along in life. And required much less attention. Clyde was an almost 7×24 ball of energy.
December 2019
Once I advertised, we were moving and selling our home over several months, three people we interested. One by one they fell through, but in December one came to us and told us they were buying our home and we went into escrow within 2 days. They had a buyer for their current home and were also heading into escrow.
2020
We sold our home in 2019 and closed in February 2020. Moved into a rental. Purchased a home, remodeled the home, moved in October, completed the remodel by Dec 3, 2020.
2021
I wrote this article in the beginning of this month. It describes the feeling I felt when finally arriving at the point I wanted to be at as a writer, but patiently waited for that day.
Focus and distractions are the two opposing forces in a writer’s life.
Keep the focus while working with the distraction, eliminating them one by one, until you reach your goal and the prize.
Successful People Practice.
Successful people practice, whether you are an athlete, a musician, business professional, actor, or writer, it takes practice.
I now have carved out the time I need to practice writing. I plan to be a better writer by the December 31, 2021.
It took me ten years to get to the place I am today. I had to practice patience and persistence, and both helped me though to my goal.
As a Future Writer Do NOT give up.
If you are younger, keep dreaming, older, keep dreaming, or a Senior Citizen, keep dreaming, do not give up on the dream of being a writer.
List of fourteen writers who started later in life. Age is only a number and the second writer, Millard Kaufman published his first novel at the age of 90.
There is only one rule that makes you a writer, so just write.
Entering the Writing profession is easier today than ever. There is so much free and paid material, coaching, classes, and endless amount of reading available today. The material is growing by the second, especially as new writers appear daily to the list of writers.
Enjoy your writer’s journey.
Thank you for reading.
Please share your thoughts and questions we me, comment or email me at roger@rogerskibowski.com
