If you want to write, write. If you want to create, create. If you want to inspire, inspire. That is SUN pouring in the window at Sola Cafe. It’s a glory day in Yellowstone Country after a week of daily snow flurries. I rose early as I do every Saturday and busted out an upper body blast at the gym and then posted up for my daily writing session at Sola Cafe.
I didn’t feel like writing today, but banged out 3,824 words, putting the week’s total to 13,274 on my currently book project. And there’s a few gems in there. And more importantly, I’m happy.
I’m happy because I’m producing. I’m happy because I’m staying true. Being disciplined with my daily workouts comes easy, I need it, so I get on the bike, I swim four days a week and I grind through four weight sessions (2xupper, 2xlower) each week, but that’s for the dopamine, that’s to stay lean, mean and sinewy. That’s to stay healthy so I can be active with my daughter when I’m seventy, eighty. But writing is different. Writing is in my heart. And yet it’s hard to do, because there’s the “what if” factor. There’s no “what if” in the pool or at the gym, that discipline comes naturally from years of training and competing. But we have to work at creative endeavors, or anything that stretches us and pushes us. For some that’s exercise, for some that’s art.
What separates the contenders from the pretenders is action. Playing out in the sunshine sounds fun, but I’m not worried about fun, I’m worried about living. Writing isn’t my hobby, it’s not my job, it’s not something I do for the sake of doing it. Writing is my craft, my work, my calling, my vocation. The difference between dreaming and doing is putting in the time, it’s sitting down and actually doing the work.
Am I enjoying the sunshine? You bet I am. And after another monster writing sesh, my heart is alive and so is my dream. Will this book be the next great American novel? The odds are against me. But why not ya? Why not? As long as I’m following the path I believe in my heart I’m meant to travel, while contributing to the cause, I’m pretty damn content. Find your rhythm. Find your craft. Love your life and live it purposefully. #BeAudacious
~With nothin’ but love, Michael W. Leach