Practice Makes Perfect

Or at least, deliberate practice makes you pretty darn close. If you stick to it long enough.

That's the key to life, isn't it? Sticking to things. Making habits. Keeping habits. If you want to become something, do something, you have to stick to it long enough that you can actually accomplish something within it.

I suppose that's what school is supposed to be about. Teaching us daily so that we can learn things through incessant drills and annoying schedules. We grow to dread the stuff so much, we hate growing up and learning that we're going to have to do the same mindless stuff to make a living, too. And to learn things outside of work? More annoying schedules forcing us to do dreaded drills.

But if it gets me to my ultimate goal of becoming a world-renowned writer? I'd do just about anything.

In that vein, I'm designing a schedule for my writing, to improve myself. And I need some honest opinions to help me along. What would you say, from this blog, are my weakest points? What skills would it benefit me to study in repeated drills to become a better writer? What would you say I'm the worst at?

I really need honest opinions here. Criticism would be wonderful. I just want to know where to start on my journey to becoming a better writer!

Writing quote of the day/month/year: “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Blog, Blog, Blog

I've just built my third blog, Keep It Short & Sweet, because third times a charm, right? Well, I thought about it as I built it, and, honestly, I miss my old blogs. I miss what they represented. I miss writing on them and looking at them and spending time upgrading them.

My new blog is where I'm going to be posting short stories I write. So, it won't really be like a blog kind of blog, you know? Kyla's Not Normal was always somewhat like a diary. I talked about whatever came to mind and used pictures to illustrate what I was thinking. It was fun and carefree. I miss that. I don't even know why I just gave it up, never to come back again.

Maybe it was because of what it represented in my mind? A big, whopping failure. Another thing I couldn't stick to in my life.

I don't react well to failure. Never have, never will.

And so Some Are Made was born. I built that blog to document a life change. I wanted to change everything about my life. I wanted to work on and improve who and what I was. I still want to do that. I don't understand why I shouldn't pick it back up, if that's what I want.

I think it comes down to a mental image I have in my head. I have these blogs mentally stamped with that failed sign you see above. I come back to these blogs, and it hurts me inside, because I didn't do what I set out to do. I didn't stick to these blogs the way I was supposed to.

Looking over them, the last few entries of both blogs became sickeningly similar. I began to apologize, over and over, for not being able to write enough in my blogs. For not being good enough. For not trying hard enough.

Pfft.

Forget that. I'm not apologizing anymore. I'm only human, and it's past time I accept that and try to work with the shortcomings that come with it.

As an update, for anyone out there still counting: I've finished the first draft of Dragon Marked and am well on my way to finishing the second. Soon, I'll be starting Never Trust A Pixie, and I'll be sure to keep you updated with my progress.

Can I promise I'll stick to this? Not on your life. Can I promise to try? Oh, yeah! And I do promise. I'm going to give it my all to stick with blogging this time. So, here's hoping that the third time really is the charm, right?

Writing quote of the day/month/year: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― Maya Angelou