This past year of the pandemic has been an enlightening one for many people. There are lots of stories of people rethinking what they want to do. The change in the way people lived, the loss of life to the virus, and just a general reminder that life is short has made a lot of people think about how they want to live.
Many people got the option to work from home and loved it. I know I have loved doing my day job from home, and not having to go into the office. Not to say that my office wasn’t nice, but there is a certain flexibility that one gets when their office is home. The ability to go for a mid-day walk or run an errand and know you could just stay a bit later to finish up was nice.
The change has been so life-changing for many that lots of people are leaving their jobs, and one survey said 95 percent of people are considering leaving. That doesn’t mean they’ll all walk out the door, but it means they are looking to see if there is someplace that better meets their needs.
Similarly, I’ve been thinking about how I want to live my life and what I want to write about. I’ve had many ideas for books, and I have an entire file on them, on things that are ideas that I’ve come up with and like. Some ideas feel like they’d be more commercially successful, and some are ones that I’ve started and gotten pretty deep into.
The interesting thing is that I’d started a novel a couple of years ago and finished it, but didn’t actually like the way it ended. I’ve been tinkering with it on and off to see if I could figure out where it went wrong and how to make it work. Only, after this past year, I’ve realized that that novel isn’t really what I’m interested in writing. It’s not where my heart is. My heart wants to go back to Life First. Book three of that series wraps up all the loose ends but one: Dr. Stephen Grant.
And my mind has gone to him many times over the years. While the book series is still probably my favorite, as it’s my first series, it never had the kind of commercial success I would have liked. Because of that, I’ve put off writing Dr. Grant’s story in favor of doing other series.
Yet, after the year we’ve had, and after reading a bevy of books on self-discovery and living a fulfilling life, I’ve decided that I want to prioritize the things I love. And that means the things I really want to write. And I really want to write Dr. Grant’s story. So, that’s going to be my project for the rest of 2020. In my mind, I had this notion that I could finish the first draft by the end of this month if I went on this intense writing schedule. Only, I’ve realized with my day job and other things going on in my life, that wasn’t really feasible.
However, the end of the year is feasible. And what’s more, I’m really excited about it. I went through and outlined all the chapters last week, and then I started writing. I’ve been able to sit and work on it on and off at various times, and I must say, I’m loving finally fleshing out this story. I feel like all the hints are there in the previous books that give glimpses into who Dr. Grant is. About what has happened to him. But, seeing the whole measure of it laid out is very fulfilling. I can’t wait to write the chapters, get it edited and get it out to the world.
What’s interesting to me is that it’s taken me this long to figure out what I should be writing. That this was the story that needs my focus. I was thinking about how in college I made a move that I knew was right for me, one that people discouraged me from making, but I didn’t care because I knew I couldn’t live my life on that other path. My memory is that I had agonized over it somewhat. The decision being to change my major. I’d started off in engineering, and it was a path pushed on me by all the school people who suggested that STEM were the fields where everything was at, including the money. I was such a good kid, I followed the advice of teachers and my parents, but I remember being in college that first year and taking the engineering courses and being bored and unhappy and thinking, I couldn’t do this for the rest of my life. And I switched to journalism. Lots of kids switch majors in college, so I didn’t think of it as a big deal, but in retrospect, it was. It was the first real-life decision that I made that said to myself, that said with real clarity, that my happiness, that my fulfillment mattered. That going through the motions for money was not who I was and not necessary to live a fulfilling life.
I feel a little bit like I’ve coasted since then, figuring, knowing I’d made a good choice about living. The last year has been a chance to stop coasting and start thinking. Thinking about what makes me happy to write about. And while a new book or new series is more likely to sell than an old series that hasn’t taken off, it’s the old series that I want to complete. I want to tell the next two chapters of this story. One that provides deep perspective on events of the previous book, and also one that sets us up for a new chapter that finally ties everything up, neat as a bow.
Sometimes when we’re writing, it can feel like the story isn’t coming together because we don’t know how to make it come together. But, I realized this year that a story not coming together can be a sign that you’re trying to tell the wrong story. When you’re trying to tell the right story, it comes to you, and even if it’s not working perfectly, it keeps drawing you back to it. I’m super excited to be engaged in telling the right story.
So, has the pandemic year caused you to rethink anything or shift priorities?