Baseball excitement and battling self-doubt

I have ignited my own excitement about major-league baseball this year. It all started last week when a friend and neighbor came over with his baseball cards wanting to trade with me for a couple of rookie cards I had shown him. It made me think about all the fun I used to have watching baseball and collecting baseball cards.

This week I started looking for news and score apps to help keep me up-to-date with what is going on in baseball. I found MLB actually airs their baseball games on YouTube so you can watch them a few days after they have played. I think this will be a great way for me to watch some baseball on days when I'm home by myself and need to get a little writing done but want to watch something on TV as well.

Spring training is almost over and my team the Atlanta braves are just about ready for the beginning of the season. I am getting myself acquainted with some of the new players. What I find intriguing is many of the players these days can throw with both her left hand and their right. Some of these players on the Braves include Eric Young Jr., Nick Markakis, Freddie Freeman and Christian Betharcourt. I am interested in seeing how some of these players stack up to the other teams they will play playing over the next few months.

One of the other things I've come across is the Alanna Braves are now worth more than $1 billion. That amazes me.

I started writing some of this stuff down and hoping I will be able to use some of it in future writings or to be able to expand upon them. I don't know if I'll ever be able to use anything about baseball but people like baseball and maybe I can use it to expand on some of the things I think about.

One of the things that occurred to me this week is my reluctance to write about sensitive material. I have outlined three books about the love of God and having a relationship with God. I find many people have opposing views on some of the subjects. I have allowed the fear of what others might say keep me from writing. 

Twice this week I have been told to just write what I want to write and not to worry about what other people might say. When I allow that worry to control me then I'm allowing someone else to stop me from doing the things I enjoy. When I worry and allow my actions to reflect that worry then I automatically lose. So instead I need to sit down and write these books. So that's what I'm going to do starting today.

Well I was going to try and write something...

I'm sitting here on my lunch break trying to think of something to write about. I wanted to update my blog but what to write about has been rather difficult. 

I'm trying to find something I can write about on a regular basis. I am thinking about letting you read my thoughts as they come out of my brain. Sometimes they makes sense but most of the time what comes out is utter nonsense.

I am hoping I can find something I can share with you every day when I am on my lunch break. I will sit down and write several things that I have been thinking about and then spend time dictating it on to my blog. This will allow me to release some of the creative juices that don't get released when I am working in the store.

One of the things I have thought about doing is writing sections of the books I have outlined in my notebook. There are probably about two dozen books I have outlined and have yet to sit down to write. If I can get myself to write for at least 15 to 20 minutes then I will have a decent size blog post to send out to you. 

My only worry is it won't be interesting and you will just laugh at me and walk away from the blog. I guess it's not really the reason I write the blog. Usually I write to focus my mind and think about the things I want to write about. I write about things that are going on in my day so I can leave them on the blog instead of allowing them in my writing. 

I think what I'm going to do right now is to finish some of the outlines that are towards the last few pages of my notebook. I started them with a chapter number in mind and I write down the ideas for each chapter. If I can come up with enough ideas to make an entire book then I can go ahead and start writing it. I have three of these notebooks I have filled up. There are dozens of outlines in them so I will never run out of things to write about.

Ignoring Negative Reviews

I noticed this week I had a few reviews on a couple of my books. Two of them were negative. They really didn't say anything of value that would help me in the long run. One of them said the book was boring and too short. The other one said it was providing common sense and not worth the dollars spent on it.

I know it is self punishment to read your own reviews. Many people write reviews just to be mean to writers. I should not let it get to me and honestly it doesn't. What it does do is help me think about how to improve my writing in the future.

I am thinking about how I can make my writing more interesting in the upcoming books. I am also thinking about how I can go back to some of my previous books and add more content. I have some ideas to double the length of one or two of the books I already have out. I think there's more information I can provide.

I have decided I will allow these reviews to drive me rather than put me down. If I allow them to get under my skin, then I run the risk of put my writing down and never returning to it. That's not how I need to look at negative reviews. I need to use them to fuel future projects, to drive me to improve my craft and provide more valuable information for my readers.

Doing a weeks worth of work in two hours

I was listening to a podcast this morning about a writer who sits down and groups his writing tasks into two hours allowing him to get most of the blogging he needs to do for the whole week done in those two hours. This frees up his time during the rest of the week to write his books.

Today I'm thinking about how I might be able to implement this into my own weekly routine. If I can spend two hours on my day off preparing the following week's work then I can spend the rest of the week focused on writing my books. 

The more books I can get written, the more I can gets up on Amazon. Then maybe I can get more readers to notice my work. It will also allow me to be more consistent with my posting. I will have a post here on this blog. I will be able to post more regular content on Facebook and Twitter. Then I can spend the rest of my week editing and writing.

Finding Change Introduction

There are very few things in life that bring joy like that of finding a coin on the ground. It's like finding a little bit of life when there was none. Maybe that sounds a little arrogant or selfish, but finding money when you previously didn't have any brings a little hope where there wasn't any.

There are several reasons why we like to find money. It makes us feel like the world has a little extra to give to us, like we actually mean something, we're worth the occasional investment.

Money is a symbol of wealth, and every time we find a little bit of that wealth it makes us feel richer, like we have a little bit more of what the world has to offer. 

Some people feel an opportunity when they find money. They think about what they can use that money for to create more money or new opportunities or maybe even just find a way to help other people.

I find when I stumble across an extra coin or two, they seem to look back at me and signify a story. Those coins have been in other people's pockets, they have been passed around from shop to shop between neumerous people and somehow fell out of a pocket and landed on the ground for me to find. I look at the date on the coin and feel the texture that is left on the face of that coin and wonder what that it has seen in its lifetime.

Finding coins, For most people, is an occasional occurrence. It's something we Stumble Upon. It's a tiny surprise in the midst of our day. But I have found if you are looking for coins you will find them more often. Over the course of the last few years I have found several places and several techniques that allow me to find more coins. I want to share those places and techniques with you. 

Time to get serious about writing

I have been sitting around part of the day today thinking about my world Bible.I created this document that laid out 343 different novels that I wanted to write over the course of my lifetime.

It is a vague expression of what I want to write. Today I spent some time building a book of blank pagesto help me better construct the world in the timeline for this particular world. I think if I can construct the world better, I will be able to sit down and actually write the books.

For all I know this is just busy work for me. It might be another way for me to procrastinate instead of writing them novels themselves. It did not take very long to assemble. I want to add what I have hand written on the Bible over the past few weeks. Then I'm going to send the whole thing out to be printed in a spiral-bound book so I canstart adding to it making a world that is ready to be written in.

Do We Need to Write on Paper Anymore?

It is the digital age, at time where everything we do seems to be done on the computer or on the cloud by some sort of mobile device. 

I have begun to wonder if there is even need for paper anymore. We can have receipts sent to our cell phones or emails. We can write letters on Facebook. We don't even read our books on paper anymore. We all have tablets. 

I find that it is easier to dictate what I want to write onto my phone than it os to find a moment to sit down and write Somerjing on a keyboard. 

What I do still use paper for is getting my ideas out. I still walk around with a composition book I keep nores and ideas in. It is also great for doodling in. It's harder to doodle freely on a computer or tablet.