I’m at a point in my life where I have the chance and the opportunity to write as often as I want for as long as I want. It’s something that I feel that I have to do. While that’s not translating into more blogs, it is translating into more text. What started out as something fun has now turned into a possibility of something new and exciting.
I made a goal when I started all of this two years ago. My goal was to have 4 books out by the time I’m 50. Welp, I’m 41 with The Book of Isabel coming out next year and Naked City currently being written it seems that I’m almost 3/4 done. The thing is… I didn’t expect to be this inspired. I didn’t expect the longevity in all this. Sure, I didn’t want to be the guy with just one book but I also didn’t expect to have this much time.
The time I have is based on several things. The fact that I don’t watch as much television as the average American helps. While I do get into certain shows, I tend to watch what I need to and then shut off or mute the TV. Then there’s also the fact the I’m in a long distance relationship at the moment. This gives me more time than I actually want at times but I use this time to the best of my ability. Lastly, my Playstation 3 died in the summer. So I haven’t played video games in a long time. This has become a perfect storm of sorts.
Even with the factor of family and work generally taking up large amounts of my time, I’m able to find little pockets of extra time to think and be creative. However, when someone asked me when do I find time to write, the answer is very basic. I don’t sleep. haha.
Sleep is relative. Most people know that I can be a bit of an insomniac. It’s not hard to find me tweeting something at 2:30am. I try to make use of the time that I have because time is my greatest asset. It’s this time that has allowed me to write 11-14 short stories over the course of 3 weeks. I haven’t completed them all but it will happen before the end of the month.
I’ve already resigned to the fact that I may not reach the 50k word mark that is set for National Novel Writing Month and I’m OK with that. I’ve laid a foundation and to be quite honest these stories are something I can read at events. Since they are new and don’t really connect to a larger story as of yet, people may just hear me read them. Once I’m done with everything I need to do for book two, Naked City will become my priority.
I feel good about everything and all this writing makes me think that I should readjust my goals from 4 books by 50 to 6 books. I may have to sleep on that.
Anthony Otero 