For Those Who Want to Write

 For Those Who Want to Write

I'm writing a novel. The idea has been in my mind for nineteen years.  I've attempted to write this novel three other times and never got beyond four or five thousand words each time.

This time is different - better.

Here's what I've learned on this writing journey this time around. Oh, by the way. I'm not finished writing it. But wanted to rush these thoughts out for now.

~I started on January 1, 2024 in earnest to write my novel again. I hooked onto an idea that was a good 'hook' this time that had escaped me before. My title stayed the same. My main character stayed the same. My location stayed the same for the most part.

~What changed? My mindset. One night, late, I was writing and it hit me. I am god (little g) of these pages. I can write anything, do anything to my characters I want. Even death. Once I realized that, it was like a lightbulb turned on and the lid was taken off.

~I also realized that persistence in writing is critical. I work a 40-hour week, and write two blogs each week plus produce at least one podcast and a video podcast every week. And I still find time to write almost every night. I say 'almost' because I give myself permission to take a night off when needed. Yes, permission. I listen to my body, and when the body says 'rest', that's what it gets.

~Since we writers are gods of our writing, we control the destiny of all we create. I killed off a minor character in my book this week. She had outlived her usefulness and I needed to keep the action in my chosen location.

~I took a writing retreat break recently: Thursday - Sunday. What a marvelous retreat that was. My goodness. To have a huge block of hours of concentrated writing time was a real gift to myself. 

It was just me, my laptop and a few groceries at a friend's condo at the Peake of the Snoqualmie Mountains just out of Seattle. There was no one else along. I set no agenda. I wrote and took standing breaks as needed, I napped as needed, and then wrote some more. For two of those mornings I was up by 6:30 and writing shortly after that. And two of those nights I wrote until 11PM or later.

~I had a goal to accomplish for this four-day retreat. I was well into my second story in this book and felt it was time to bring it home. My goal was to finish this particular story. And I met it Sunday morning around 10:30. That felt great.

~I'm the kind of writer who has the idea of where the story is going to go and then I let it come out. I don't outline and stick to that script. I was amazed and surprised more than once in the twists and turns my story took, and in some of the characters that came forth. Toward the end I introduced a 10-yr-old street kid named Ze that I'm going to bring back in another story. He's a keeper. He was also a surprise.

Here's what I proved to myself.

~I have good ideas.

~I have the discipline to attempt a retreat like this and stick to my agenda of writing, writing, writing.

~My characters became real in some unusual ways. They took on traits, personalities, speech mannerisms and behaviors that were unique to each one. I love that. I told my wife before I went on this retreat that these characters were becoming friends.

~~ Thanks for reading this article. It's not for everyone, and if any writers or wanna-be-writers read it, my wish is that it will help unlock and inspire you to keep writing.

Success to all you word-smiths out there.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Our Dark Days Make Us Prove We Are Strong

Our Dark Days Make Us 

Prove We Are Strong 

I once thought I was not a strong person. My self-esteem was almost non- existent, my self-confidence was in hiding, and I suppose my mindset was one of ‘I’ll coast through life and see what happens. After all, I’ll take what comes and I probably deserve what comes.’

Oh my. What a lousy way to approach life. Trouble comes, so do nothing, say nothing, assume you deserve it and that’s that.

No way. I say NO WAY.

I’ve had a few dark days in my years of living. And with the living I’ve done thus far, I can look behind me and see those dark days.

And look what I learned and look how I came out.

You don’t know the inner strength you possess until you really must dig down and use it. Oh, my friend. You have strength inside of you. I hope you believe that. What you must do now is let that strength, that intestinal fortitude rise to the surface and show us that you may be down, but you’re not out.

That bears repeating.

“You may be down, but you’re not out.”

Many of us have experienced divorce, or bankruptcy, job loss, loss of a loved one, horrible surgeries, and the list goes on.

The great news is this ... some of us have found the strength to rise from the ash-heap and make a new start. We’ve found the strength from somewhere within us and pulled ourselves up by the bootstrap. We’ve determined that this too shall pass, and this situation is not going to be the end of us.

It is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.

It, however, could be the beginning of a new beginning. That’s not double- speak. That is what it is – a new beginning. Every beginning has a starting point. Where is yours?

A personal story:
When I went through toe amputation surgery on my left foot three years ago, I had dark days. I wondered, questioned, and worried over my ability or inability to ever walk at a normal pace. And I thought pain in walking was going to become the norm for me for the rest of my life.

Look at me today. I can walk. I do the treadmill at the gym. I work a 40- hour week. This past summer I discovered I can ride a bicycle again, and the weekly improvements keep on coming.

My first steps after surgery were not a pretty sight. I was in pain with every step. When I came home from the hospital, I was fearful of having to climb eight steps up and then eight steps down into our condo.

I’m way past all that.

Along the way, with Carolyn's help, I found my inner strength, my intestinal fortitude to persevere, to be persistent and to keep doing what I knew needed doing, for I was not going to let a little thing like missing five toes stop me from living a good and full life.

They were dark days. And guess what. They made me prove just how strong I already was.

I found the strength within. How about that.

Now, I’ve used a lot of “I” words to tell my story, and I trust you will forgive me for that. The point is this ... we all have that measure of inner strength. Sometimes, we never see it until the hard places come, the seemingly unsurmountable experiences in life. And when those times do come, we have a choice.

Will we wallow in our self-pity and doomsday mindset? Or will we rise, take up our bed and walk.

Just to be clear, I am a man of faith. I have no doubt that the God of my understanding was by my side through all that I have experienced in life.

And I do know that He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

What can you do for yourself? Sometimes we can only do small acts, and those small, somewhat insignificant acts lead to more small acts, and muscles that start firing, and neurons and nerve endings that fire, and mindsets that start changing from a can’t do to a CAN DO!

Dark days are no fun, granted. And look what they teach us.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Never A Good Time to Stop

 Never a Good Time to Stop

I don’t want to bore you with my medical history, but I need to use a part of it to illustrate a point.

I had complete toe amputation on my left foot three years ago. Between that surgery (actually four surgeries) and my open-heart surgery 6 years ago my body has taken a beating. Just in the last few months have I rounded a corner and have started to feel better than ever, even before heart surgery.

I’m going to LA Fitness, working on my own and with a personal trainer, and have been doing very well.

I’ve missed working out for the last two week. TWO WEEKS. And I can tell a difference. Climbing steps had been getting a bit more difficult. The simple act of getting out of a chair had become more of a challenge and a few other muscular observations of note. All because I took two weeks off.

Oh, I could rationalize and say I’ve been busy, which I have, or we’ve been out of town, or I’ve been too tired to go for my personal training session, which I missed two weeks in a row.

And I have paid a small price for all of that.

Happily, I returned to the gym today. I was able to pick up where I left off and believe it or not, I can already tell that my body is responding. Rising from a chair has suddenly become easier, and other movings and motions of my body have become easier again.

Can you believe all this? If I want to live a longer life than others with similar medical experiences, then I must keep up with my weekly gym visits, my treadmill walks, my weight machines and all else.

I can never ask, “Can I stop now?” No, not now. Not ever!

Is that a depressing prognosis?

Not on your life. Do you know the euphoric feeling I sense after working out each time? Some of you do. It is like a special kind of drug that is good for you – it’s all good for you.

I felt that way this morning. I’ve felt it before.
And I will continue to feel it every time I pay the price and go to the gym.

Even when I’m ninety-two, which is a long way off, I’ll be doing something in the way of physical activity, for I like the differences I feel in my body.

I wonder where else in life I can apply this idea? And I wonder about this for you, my loyal and faithful readers. When you reach 75 might be considered by some a good place to stop. Probably not. Perhaps curb your activity some but never stop.

I’m already curbing some activities. The weights are a bit lighter than twenty years ago. Some of my personal trainer activities must be modified specifically for me, and Monica, my trainer, is perfectly okay with that.

Changes happen. Adjustments must be made. Stopping because I’m too old or too weak? Not today.

Take a break occasionally if you must.

That’s called sharpening the saw, thanks to Stephen Covey

But keep doing something, some level of activity as you can.

     Your body will thank you. 

          Your heart will thank you. 

               Your family will thank you. 

                    Your mind will thank you.

And you just might find time to write about your own experience sometime and let us all hear of your health successes at your ripe and good age, whatever age that may be.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

You Can Bounce and Not Break

 You Can Bounce and Not Break

It’s such a simple thought, isn’t it? It almost doesn’t need to be written on, and yet we need to remember this great concept.

Rejection teaches us 

that we can bounce 

and not break!

I love that idea.
I know this to be true. And you do too.

Everybody gets rejected.
Everybody loses out at some point. 

Everybody gets defeated sometimes.

Ever been divorced?
Ever been in bankruptcy? 

Ever had open-heart surgery?

Ever had an amputation?
Ever lost in love?
Ever had a foreclosure or a repossession?

Here’s the thing.

All the bad stuff I mentioned above, and there is a lot more that could be added to this list, all of that stuff is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it could, perhaps, be the beginning for a different take on life or on any of those circumstances listed.

WE CAN BOUNCE AND NOT BREAK!!!

We should take out an ad in every newspaper in the world, yes – the world, and proclaim this from every mountaintop.

This I’ve said in many blogs, and yet it needs saying again and again.

Failure Is Not Final!

~We walk away from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) ~We overcome failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)
~We bounce back from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) 

~We learn from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)

Failure is not the end. Oh no. It is a teacher. It is a hard lesson in life that we take to heart.

Yes, we must grieve our failures. We must take time to process, and reflect, and wonder and ponder and do all that other stuff a smart person does after a failure.

And then we move on. WE MOVE ON!

Is your mindset that of an overcomer? Do you want to bounce, or do you want to break into thousands of tiny pieces?

I say – Let’s Bounce.

Rebuild.
Reinvent yourself, your dream, your one thing that is always on your mind.

Do you remember what Muhammad Ali once said? 

You don’t lose if you get knocked down.

You lose if you stay down.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Weeds Need to Die

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Weeds Need to Die

I hate weeding.  That is a thankless task, until I’m finished weeding. 

You can’t be lackluster when it comes to weeding.  You either get those suckers and dig them out, or pull them out, or chop off their above ground body parts or they will mock you tomorrow. 

Got weeds?  Got stuff in your life that needs digging out?  Got bad habits that must be eliminated?  They are sort of like weeds only worse.  You have to go on the attack.  You have to get aggressive with weeds and bad habits. 

It’s a battle of do or die.

Think about that for more than a minute.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Small Step

One Small Step

Consider the power in one small step.  It can mark a commencement.  It can start a revolution.  It can end an argument. 

One small step has power. 

I write my blogs every week with one small step at the beginning.  And the rest of the words seem to follow.

Even now, I’m faced with the goal of writing six blogs.  I may not finish them all in this one setting, but I’ll get them done.  And I know I can only do one at a time, so I focus on only one at a time.

So, here I go. 

What needs a beginning in your world? 

Here’s one of the solutions.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration