05/15/2025
Just ten minutes.
The last few weeks have been quite draining creatively for me. All my energy has been pouring into everything photography, but this week presented downtime.
So what did I do? Bet you won’t guess it..
Did you guess work on my novel? Because if so, you would be wrong.
I avoided it like the plague. 🤪
I tried one day, but everything felt forced. Felt difficult. My tank is empty.
So today, when naptime came, I planned on doing the same avoidance, giving my mind a chance to be free of any thoughts. After a bit though, a little voice inside of me said, “Try just ten minutes. Dedicate just ten minutes to see if you can move one step forward.”
So I opened up my novel — read what I had written last, and did nothing.
Ten minutes went by, told myself, “Okay, you tried. Seems I’m still in a rut.”
But that little voice convicted me, “You didn’t try. You delayed and avoided. Actually try this time.”
I opened it again. I didn’t know what I wanted to write with where I left off. I didn’t know my next little step, but I just wrote a line that came to me. Sounded terrible, but oh well. Went with it.
Before I knew it, twenty minutes had passed, and I wrote 400 new words. BUT it wasn’t the word count that made me excited — it was the discovery of this book’s main empire’s history. A piece of historical culture that influences the novel present events.
I didn’t even know this existed for my novel, and I’m not sure I would have, but that little voice inside knew it was there — knew this piece to my novel. Knew it needed a chance to be uncovered. Will this discovery stay? I’m not sure, everything is subject to change. But this discovery is the beginning path that will add depth and layers to the novel. Making the empire feel more realistic and alive, not only for me, but for you readers.
And that’s what excites me.
If you’re in a rut today, or have been for awhile with whatever in life — my little voice inside is speaking to your’s, more so commanding, “Try for ten minutes. Don’t think. Just let whatever flows out be what happens.”
Because there is another step forward waiting to be discovered on your path.
Even if it’s just ten minutes.