I have been writing for a while. I like to tell people there are only three things in my life that have been constant since I began middle school: God, running and writing fantasy. All of these have had times of prominence and times when I’ve regrettably put them on the back burner. These three areas do seem connected. I am at my best in one when I am thriving in the other two. Growing and developing in all three has been difficult at times. Usually, I need someone else to speak into one of these areas to give me a kickstart, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes I’m “flying solo,” as it were, and it is difficult to be motivated. Over the years, I’ve learned something that helps me: putting my head down and just doing it.
My ability to sit down and write ebbs and flows; sometimes, I sit down and put five words on the page, other times I end up with several thousand words and multiple chapters finished in a day. Of course, here at Covenant, time to write is lessened by homework, tests, cross country and track. I still find time to do it, even if I can't get anything on the page.
I’ve been working on a series that I have wanted to publish for a long time, but one thing has stood in my way: me.
I finished the handwritten draft of “Project Phoenix: Borne” in July 2019. I was able to finish the second draft during the Covid-19 pandemic. I returned to this book several times over the next few years to do some editing, but whenever I looked at it, I told myself that it wasn't good enough and went back to work on my other projects. This cycle went on for years.
In that time, I ended up writing the concept drafts for another series and almost finished every other book in the “Project Phoenix” series too. I did not lack any creative energy, just the strength to act on what I knew I wanted; I was scared.
Throughout the rest of high school, I looked at “Borne” as a failure project. I loved the story and characters that I had created. I really wanted to publish the other books in the series because I felt like those were better showcases of my writing ability.
But the first book had to come first, obviously. As I saw it, there were two options: either scrap the original and rewrite it into something that fit the standards I now hold or publish “Borne” as I saw it when I first wrote it. With some prompting from my mom, I decided on the latter and got to work editing “Borne” in order to tell the story that I wanted to tell when I first wrote the book.
Over the past year, my younger sister and a good friend of mine have started writing books of their own. When they asked for my advice, I told them both the same thing. Just write the thing. Of course, I needed to take the same advice. As a runner, I am keenly aware of Nike’s slogan “Just Do It,” and they're not wrong. Sometimes, you just have to do the next thing. Finish that essay, then critique it or find someone else to do it. Most of the time, our creative works aren't nearly as bad as we think. If you're interested in getting started writing, whatever it may be, don't go watch a ton of YouTube videos on what you should and shouldn’t do. Just do it.