Ceara Comeau's Blog: Lessons From A Struggling Writer - Posts Tagged "lessons"
What a Waste
At some point in everyone’s life, we all go through a situation that makes us question what we are doing. And sometimes a very familiar phrase will cross our minds, “This is such a waste of my time.”
Over the years, I have found myself saying that all too often, whether it be an Algebra class in high school or a new, artistic endeavor. See, that was one of my biggest fears not too long ago. I had a principal in middle school who once said to me, “I don’t mind wasting money, that’s something I can get back. But my time? I can’t get that back.”
And this stuck with me and any new choice I made in my life; I had his words echoing in my memory. Which, honestly made me steer clear of anything that I thought wouldn’t serve me a purpose.
But this past month has greatly changed my perception of wasting time.
As I’ve probably mentioned in the past, I LOVE doing family research for my family and for others. I’ve been doing it for about as long as I’ve been writing and through those years, there are still unanswered questions that I have. Sometimes I find different methods to further my “investigation” and sometimes my theories lead to a dead end and I have to wait for another theory to emerge. But, is each method a waste of my time? Absolutely not, because not only do I find more ways of utilizing the different DNA websites out there, but the stories I learn about my ancestors give me inspiration for the characters that I write. It gives them more life.
So, I want to encourage you to change your way of thinking this coming month. If you’re in a situation that you think is a “waste” of your time, ask yourself—how can you apply the situation to your career or passion? Because, if you can learn from something, then, it’s not really a waste of time!
Over the years, I have found myself saying that all too often, whether it be an Algebra class in high school or a new, artistic endeavor. See, that was one of my biggest fears not too long ago. I had a principal in middle school who once said to me, “I don’t mind wasting money, that’s something I can get back. But my time? I can’t get that back.”
And this stuck with me and any new choice I made in my life; I had his words echoing in my memory. Which, honestly made me steer clear of anything that I thought wouldn’t serve me a purpose.
But this past month has greatly changed my perception of wasting time.
As I’ve probably mentioned in the past, I LOVE doing family research for my family and for others. I’ve been doing it for about as long as I’ve been writing and through those years, there are still unanswered questions that I have. Sometimes I find different methods to further my “investigation” and sometimes my theories lead to a dead end and I have to wait for another theory to emerge. But, is each method a waste of my time? Absolutely not, because not only do I find more ways of utilizing the different DNA websites out there, but the stories I learn about my ancestors give me inspiration for the characters that I write. It gives them more life.
So, I want to encourage you to change your way of thinking this coming month. If you’re in a situation that you think is a “waste” of your time, ask yourself—how can you apply the situation to your career or passion? Because, if you can learn from something, then, it’s not really a waste of time!
Lessons From the Characters
Choices. Even at a very young age, we all understand the general concept of choices. Sometimes they get us into trouble, and other times we’re rewarded by people or the universe. But oftentimes we forget just how impactful these choices can be to our daily lives. This is something I was reminded of just this week, in fact.
I added about a thousand words to the third book in my trilogy (yay me!). And as I was writing, I started thinking about the characters and what they represented. It was then that I realized that they represented choices. Each one, for a variety of reasons, said they didn’t have a choice in their ultimate decision. Some of these decisions were heroic and saved lives, whereas others were detrimental to the character themselves.
That’s when I started to see the lesson I needed in my own life. All too often, I find myself saying the exact same thing: “I don’t have a choice” or “I wasn’t given a choice.” The truth is, and like many of my characters discover, we all have a choice.
The farther I go along these creative avenues, the more I’m finding that the choices I need to make I really don’t like. Most of the time it’s because they feel impossible to accomplish, but they’re essential to reach my goals. The trick is to not jump to the first option that’s presented to me and weigh the pros and cons of each path.
“Well, what if you have to make a decision immediately? You won’t have time to think about a path!”
Good question, there really is no good answer to that. Sometimes, when that particular situation comes up, it boils down to your conscious and what you feel is right. Does that mean you’ll make the right decision? Maybe, maybe not, but regardless of what path you choose, all you can do is keep moving forward.
I added about a thousand words to the third book in my trilogy (yay me!). And as I was writing, I started thinking about the characters and what they represented. It was then that I realized that they represented choices. Each one, for a variety of reasons, said they didn’t have a choice in their ultimate decision. Some of these decisions were heroic and saved lives, whereas others were detrimental to the character themselves.
That’s when I started to see the lesson I needed in my own life. All too often, I find myself saying the exact same thing: “I don’t have a choice” or “I wasn’t given a choice.” The truth is, and like many of my characters discover, we all have a choice.
The farther I go along these creative avenues, the more I’m finding that the choices I need to make I really don’t like. Most of the time it’s because they feel impossible to accomplish, but they’re essential to reach my goals. The trick is to not jump to the first option that’s presented to me and weigh the pros and cons of each path.
“Well, what if you have to make a decision immediately? You won’t have time to think about a path!”
Good question, there really is no good answer to that. Sometimes, when that particular situation comes up, it boils down to your conscious and what you feel is right. Does that mean you’ll make the right decision? Maybe, maybe not, but regardless of what path you choose, all you can do is keep moving forward.
