Out of Focus ... and Coming Back In!

Did you miss me? (Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo!)

Probably not, but I'm back anyways. I am sure that I have probably lost my two or three readers in my absence, but I am hoping they will stumble on back.

I haven't been on for a while in part due to a very busy summer schedule (vacation, Scout Camp, inventory audits at work, etc.) but also because I have been struggling a little bit with my focus - both for this blog and for my life. The biggest struggle I have had with it is deciding where I want to put it. Confused? Let me explain.

I tend to live a very boring life. Not much changes from day to day simply because there is not a large amount of time to change it in. I never wanted to be one of those bloggers that simply detailed what they did throughout the day, primarily because you would only have to read one or two posts and you would have pretty much read them all. I would write: "I got up this morning and delivered newspapers. Then I went to work and did some accounting. After work I had dinner and fell asleep watching T.V./reading a book and then I went to bed." The only thing that would change would be the ending. Some days it would say "went to Boy Scouts" and others "did some housework/yard work" (Now don't go into shock, ladies. I do housework from time to time. I just tend to leave the toilet scrubbing to my wife.) Other than that, the days would pretty much all be the same.

In recent weeks, I have been considering where to put my focus for my life. One thing that I really love doing is writing creatively. I think this is mainly because I love being entertained and inspired and so I try to entertain and, on occasion, inspire others. I intend to be a published writer and have several starts for several promising story lines. Due to my idea avalanche, I had to set the others aside and focus in on one story in order to get somewhere. I outlined the plot from the beginning to almost the end, but started procrastinating for a while because I couldn't quite work out the way I wanted to wrap it up.

I eventually figured out that I wasn't going to make any progress if I expected it to be perfect all the time and decided to just start writing and let the ending take care of itself. Then I started to struggle with feelings of guilt because there are so many projects around the house that have been left unfinished (and some not even begun). So, when I had a couple of days off work while Noelle was at Beehive Camp, I tackled those projects instead of tackling the story. I didn't get them all done, but I got them to the point where I can tackle the rest of them in incremental bites of time.

I am now working to establish a daily writing period where I can really focus in and write (hopefully without too many distractions). I figure if I can get in at least 30 minutes a day, if not more, I can really make some significant progress and accomplish one of my major goals in life. On the days where the inspiration for that particular story line isn't flowing, I will focus on developing and fleshing out some of the other ideas I have, short stories, or writing exercises.

For this blog, I will share my progress with you and let you know where you can go to read the chapters as I complete them. I hope you will take time to read them and give me feedback on where you feel they are strong and, more importantly, what you feel needs to be done to improve them. When I do not have anything particular to share as far as the story goes, I hope you will come back each day to read some "Day in the Life of a Nice Guy" experiences and some other ideas that I will post each day to entertain and inspire you. Come back often because I intend to be around here quite a bit!

I know that I am probably only talking to two or three people, but I hope that more and more will find their way here that may be interested in weighing in on my writing or simply getting a good laugh or two in every now and then.

P.S. --- I have been waiting to post about the awesome vacation my wife (who I am sure, if you know her personally, has already told you all about it) and I took last month because we haven't downloaded the pictures from our camera due to a missing usb cable. We finally have the pictures downloaded so I am hoping to share some of our experiences with you shortly.