Over the weekend I pondered the fact that if somebody was growing a beard and not cutting it or shaving it off until I published my first novel, then perhaps I would feel more obliged to get writing more quickly.
So far, nobody has offered to grow a beard for me (and thankfully, my husband hasn’t read about it … well I don’t think he has. Come to think of it, though, when he picked me up from the train station tonight the welcome kiss was very stubbly).
However, I have had one offer, from my #1 fan and blog reader, my mother. I’ve long known that she reads my blog regularly because she often starts talking about stuff I can’t believe she knows, until I realise that I did, of course, publish it on my blog for all the world to see.
In any case, she rang me up yesterday and said that she’d read my post about the beard-growing inspiration thing. I was fairly certain she wasn’t going to offer to grow a beard for me, and I was right. What she did say was that she wanted to help me with a bit of inspiration, and this was her attempt: “If I die before you have a novel published, I’ll be really annoyed.” (In fact, replace “annoyed” with a stronger word – her attempt to really inspire me, I think).
This was a lovely offer, of course. But I instantly saw a huge problem. My mother, although considerably older than her advertised age of 51, is not particularly old. On top of that, she’s extraordinarily healthy and nobody can believe her actual age, because she looks and acts much younger. Moreover, her own mother lived to 94. Put in another way: my mum’s “inspiring” threat made me feel like I have about three decades in which to publish a novel. She tried to help by saying she’d like to see me publish three novels before she dies but I still calculate that at one per decade. Which is slightly inspiring, but not quite enough. But thanks for trying, Mum!
Anyone else have a “write before XXX” dare or an “I’ll grow a beard/give up chocolate/run 10km a day until you publish a novel” challenge? Leave it in the comments for me.
Hi amanda
My wife is an aspiring chilren’s book writer and she showed me your blog. I thought you might be interested in a new website I’ve just launched: http://www.comotivate.com
You seem interested in goals and the site really needs some traffic – you can find a ‘write a book’ goal in the ‘learn something’ goal category.
all the best,
matt
Thanks Matt, the CoMotivate site looks very interesting! A great idea. I’ll have a look around and probably post something about it here soon. cheers, Amanda