Starting today with a visualizing exercise. WYSIWYG.
Visualize yourself writing. Completing the book.
See the finished book. See it on your desk, in your hand, and for sale online, and in book stores, on end cap displays, and tables. See it in the library.
Notice it in people’s hands as they go to their gates for flights. See it in others’ hands as they’re reading in the park and at the coffee shop. Hear it mentioned in conversations and discover it in reviews.
How far do you want to go with this? Detail your vision. Make it a rope that carries you through each session and day, through the months of processing and developing and into the sales and marketing arena. See it all the way through. Create it as your vision and feed your determination.
Close your eyes. Spread your eyes wide. Reach out and put your arms around a star.
Don’t let circumstances stop or distract you. Believe in yourself and keep going.
Michael Seidel, writer 
Once in a very great while, I’ll imagine what it would be like to hold a printed book I authored in my hand. It’s like imagining being thrust into Hobbiton, just too distant and unreal to believe in. I can’t find the will or I lack the energy to connect me-now to a me-when. Maybe that’s for the young or maybe I wasn’t born with the ambition required.
I think, though, for many, that’s a good motivational exercise, to dream of what accomplishment would feel like. My measure of success these days is whether I would make my dad (deceased) proud of me or not. But then, he was the kind of dad who would be proud of me whatever I did. Mom was the same. I was lucky that way. So why write? Because I owe them…and, maybe, me. Because I enjoy the process–occasionally. I enjoy the challenge of the craft; I always liked puzzles. I especially like the connection I make–again, occasionally–with someone who gets me.
Thanks for the post, Michael. It certainly made me step back and think about why I’m doing this everyday.
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Thanks. Outlines of this post began while watching the movie Hidden Figures this weekend, as each character demonstrated patient, mostly stoic determination to push for their dreams.
Thanks for sharing your insights into yourself and your reasons for writing. It’s always a fascinating exercise to learn why others race this course. Cheers
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Also don’t let any difficulty literally VISUALIZING this (or anything else) stop you from pursuing your creative goals. If you can’t make a mental picture of it, FEEL yourself writing. Feel the weight of your novel in your hands, and smell the ink.
(My clone has aphantasia. Due to a brain injury, he is unable to form mental pictures of anything. He doesn’t even have visual memory. Despite this, he is both a novelist and an artist.)
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Beautiful, love it, Thomas. Sorry to hear about your clone. Good that he’s pursuing his goals despite his issues. Cheers
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