What Does the Bible Say?

I’m going to try an experiment over the next few weeks. On Wednesdays, I will write about writing and how I got where I am.

Let’s see, let me begin with my bio. Just kidding, who cares about a personal biography except for the bio writer and maybe his or her mother.

Just like the bio, that I am not sharing, we all share some common experiences. Before we’re even born our mother, and the baby daddy gets these wild dreams for our lives. The mom and dad have visions of us becoming a physician or lawyer or even president of the United States of America. We know their dreams are wild because they visualize that kind of future for us when we have their genes and DNA. About this time we should expect a song from the Man of La Mancha’s soundtrack to start playing in the background. The song’s title? The Impossible Dream.

Come on folks, be realistic!

As if our parents weren’t bad enough we head off to school. It matters not if it is a public school, private school, or Catholic school. The teachers and counselors chime in and try to direct us to the job that matches our interests and aptitude. People we date or marry follows suit trying to get us to the right job with the best income. Ultimately, we find a day job employer telling what to do, how to do it, and when to have it done.

Welcome to Life 101. And it’s because of the above that those chasing the writer’s life rarely reach their dreams.

The sad truth is most of us only set our own hours on the weekend or if we’re lucky enough to have paid time off. It’s the way of the world.

From what I read and hear from going to writer’s conferences people trying to make it as a writer are their own worst enemies. The want to be writers can’t manage their time or get the work done because no one is managing their schedule or setting their priorities for them. Rarely are they capable of being self-managed.

This post is about the organization and structure most writers must have. Without the secret ingredients of organization and structure, few want to be writers will ever finish even the first draft of their memoir or whatever book they are working on. They will never see their byline or name on the spine of a book, even an indie published book.

Let me add that organization and structure doesn’t make you a robot. It doesn’t take away your creative freedoms or suck the life out of you. What it will do is decrease but not remove panic and worry from your life. It gives you purpose and direction.

I can hear you mumbling about now. You’re saying but I have a life and a family (this might not be your biological family but the people you live and play with). Exactly. I understand you have a life. So do I.

Organization and structure help you set your priorities which include family, leisure time fun, taking care of your health, and paying the bills. In simple terms, most people want to be paid for their work, to have played in their leisure time, and from time to time to get laid to meet their emotional and physical needs. They also want to be healthy enough to participate in the three aforementioned activities.

While I have been freelancing and selling my work since the first year of the Ronald Reagan presidency, only in the last couple of years have I seriously considered supporting myself by writing. And the baby-steps that I have been taking to move in that direction are what I’ll share in the next post.

Photo Credit: Pixaby

Jimmie Aaron Kepler is a military brat. In his youth, he worked in a grocery store, warehouse, a folk-rock band as a rhythm guitar player, vendor at a major league baseball stadium, and for a milk distributor. He has enough degrees to use as wallpaper and even served his country in the US Army for a few years. Working in IT has paid the bills the last two decades. He’s been freelancing since Ronald Reagan was president. He’s even won an award for short story writing. Google his name. You’ll find his work and can even buy a few novels with his name on the book’s spine. He lives with his cat and cancer-battling wife in north Texas.