At the moment, I’m dog-sitting this precious little fuzzball.
That photo may look simple, but it required about a hundred takes that all looked like this.
Yep. She's is a licker. The hardest part about watching her is keeping the spit off my glasses. But she and I have made great progress on the first draft of the novel this week. More on that in a bit.
I’ve now coached so many wonderful humans that I’ve seen the pattern dozens of times: Massively over-ambitious goal + very concrete plan to achieve it = give up after two weeks.
We’re such adorably self-deluding creatures. It’s like we think we can make a resolution and wake up the next day in a superhero cape that lets us run 10 miles, clean out the garage, and reach Inbox Zero before breakfast.
Luckily, I have so much research, knowledge, and experience that I easily avoid this trap. Ha.
Evidence tells us that for most people, baby steps beat big impossible challenges almost every time. You know this. I know this. Everyone who’s read Atomic Habits knows this. It’s just that, well, that knowledge doesn’t magically change the fact that I’m also one of those self-deluding creatures, and I just love to over-burden myself.
And wow, did I go big over the last couple months.
I was sure I could read four more books on historic seafaring, six on novel structure, re-outline the novel that turned into a trilogy, blast through the holidays, finish up a consulting gig, and fully serve my clients while expanding my authorpreneurial skills.
I somehow managed to get it all done, but not in anything like the timeline I’d set for myself. So I’m playing catch up on everything else.
Meanwhile, I’m back in writer mode. Since the last novel took me 20 years, I’ve got a wee bit of incentive to work on my turnaround time. But with a new outline taking me back to the beginning, at least I didn’t say “I’m going to write the first draft in 8 weeks or bust!” (Trying to learn my lesson here. Again.) Instead, I committed to putting my butt in the seat, and seeing what comes out of that.
I also took a truly spectacular vacation in January to Florida and Barbados. Yeah, tough life, Cheyenne. I came home with a lighter heart, refilled vitamin D stores, and plenty of go-get-em energy. Let’s hope I can make it last. :)
Fair winds,
Cheyenne
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