Avatar photoSteven Savage

Five Words To Victory

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Serdar’s latest book (which I assure is a doozy) is a challenging one for him to write.  It’s the kind of challenge where writing it requires trusting yourself, as he notes in this blog post.  As he explores this need for self-trust – a factor he and I have both written on – he said something tangential that is very important in facing challenges:

“That said, every single time I’ve started to work on a project on a sentence-by-sentence basis, as opposed to all the plotting and planning I’ve made ahead of time, the sentence-by-sentence work is what brought everything together.”

These words reminded me of a rule I’ve heard again and again – when facing a challenge, break down your work enough that you find something you can do in five minutes then do it.  That lets you get going, take a step towards your goal – and possibly figure what to do for the next five minutes.  String together enough five minutes and you’re done.

At the start of a project things look insurmountable.  You doubt you can do it, but five minutes is all you need to realize maybe you can.

You can do this as writing as well when you’re not sure you can do a particular work.  You don’t have to write for five minutes on a project you’re not sure of – try five words.  Then five sentences, even if you have to do it five words at a time.  Then maybe five paragraphs.  Then, well, see how far you can go.

You don’t have to use what you’ve written.  You’ll almost certainly change it, edit it, or even throw it the hell out.  But at least you’ve got something to explore what you want to make and figure out how to do it.

But you have to start with those five words.

Most success is due to momentum.  You don’t really know what you have to do to complete a book or any other writing project.  You just have a start, a finish, and maybe a vague roadmap if that.  Even if you have a detailed plan it is going to change as you write and make discoveries about your work. 

So you might as well start with something small, like five words.

Steven Savage

The Compassion Of Remembering Basic Competence

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Life has been busy for me lately, as you all know.  I’m sure you also know what it’s like to be busy with something and keep finding more things to do.  It becomes all too easy to keep worrying “How do I do this” or “How do I do that” as more this and that piles up. So you get an idea of where my life has been on and off as of late.

What I started doing when worries intruded was note “I’m smart enough to figure that out” then get back to whatever the hell I was doing. Or wasn’t doing if I was trying to relax, get back to whatever I wasn’t doing.

I quickly found this simple reminder of my own basic competence kept me focused on my current activities or inactivities, as well as reducing distraction and worry.

It’s no surprise something like this helped me focus in hard times. I’ve had to remind others of their own competence and that it’s OK to focus on what is at hand. I just wasn’t as good as applying that advice to myself, to the point where I was startled what I did for others worked for me.

I’m sure some of my audience is nodding along with me. We’re often good at being compassionate for anyone but ourselves, but when we do, it works. It works just like it does for other people, but maybe we forget we’re people as we’re so overwhelmed with everything else.

So now I’m taking time to pause more in the current maelstrom of life and remember my own ability to get things done. A little self-compassion, a little remembering I’m a person and treating myself as I treat others.

Steven Savage

Speculation: A Convention-Centric Self-Publishing Group

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

I attended Fanime this year and spoke on self-publishing.  I was overjoyed at the happiness people showed, the excellent covid precautions, and my own decreasing hypochondria in the face of large events.  I was also thrilled to have an insight I’d like to share with you, my audience.

As I have for I think at least seven or eight years, I hosted a Self-Publishing panel.  Though I had to do it solo due to the “crew” facing a number of life changes, I was quite pleased with it, and had a fantastic crowd.  At the end, I noted it would be great to see some of them again.

Then it struck me – conventions like Fanime that host many creatives should have their own self-publishing group operating outside of the con, like any other self-publishing group.

Imagine something operating like a typical writer/artist/publisher meetup.  People who already love the convention come together over their projects.  The support given ensures not just successful launches of books/comics/game, but also further builds the social structure of con attendees.  In turn when the convention rolls around, the group can speak on their successes, recruit new members – and maybe just get tables in the dealer’s room and artist alley.

Let me speculate on how this could operate:

  • It should focus on the convention, staff, and attendees.  I can see it expanding under some conditions, but should at least start that way.
  • It should have both virtual and in person meetings.  This way you build local connections but include out-of-towners.
  • It would probably be best official or semi-official as part of a convention.  It might have to evolve into that.
  • It should focus on getting works out.  Get people getting results.
  • It should work to integrate with the convention to run panels and events.

In time such an event could expand.  It could be based around several conventions in an area, or sister conventions further apart.  There could be several groups, based at other conventions, that team up at conventions.  More, tight, productive relationships would evolve – and we’d see some great stuff!

Now I wish I’d actually collected email addresses at the panel – I got stupid and forgot.  But maybe online or next year I can try that.

So I’d like to ask you dear reader, what do you think?  Drop me a line!

Steven Savage