Momentum is defined as the impetus gained by a moving object, and that’s where we are at this point.
There's a lot of momentum here, once this gets moving!
Last week I talked about how the cloud that has been hanging over me since my first (failed) attempt to retire, two years ago, had started to lift. How I was beginning to feel some real hope for the first time since my life turned upside down.
And then flipped again.
And again.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Still, I feel so much better in recent weeks, and I think that creative momentum is a very important part of that.
(Don’t get me wrong; there are people, perhaps some of the people here, who suffer very real and very debilitating clinical depression. Their disease (and it is a disease, not a fault) has been exacerbated by everything around us over the last two years. Momentum, if they could even muster some, isn’t going to solve their issues.
For me, with a reasonably normal (whatever that is) brain chemistry, it has been a trial. I am frankly amazed that they have managed to keep going with the enormous pressure current events have placed upon them. )
In the last few weeks I have made some choices that placed deadlines in front of me. In the beginning I had to make a conscious effort to drag my backside out from in front of the television, to put down my phone, or not play “just one more” online game, and go to my office.
Once I met a deadline successfully, tackling the next one wasn’t quite as difficult – though there is plenty of temptation on the streaming services, and the family game nights are a lot of fun.
The momentum – the slowly re-reforming habit - of spending time in the writing chair has begun to have an effect. I am at my computer at least part of every day. Projects are lining up that I want to do, and I am letting them become the priority.
Along with the growing creative momentum, I am finding the pull of the day job lessening every day. Where I was working nine or ten hours a day, I find myself wanting to leave earlier and earlier, so I can come home and get to the creative things I love.
It is a wonderful and joyous experience. I want to get to that blank page and fill it up. I want to spend time laying out the next story, the next book, and getting them ready to go out into the world.
I even screwed up my courage and did something I thought I would never do: I made a promo video for the Kickstarter that will launch on Tuesday. No, I am not on camera – I haven’t gotten quite that bold – but I did record the voiceover for the slide show my amazing video editor (otherwise known as Steve, the Supportive Spouse) put together. Honestly, he made me sound a lot better than I did on the raw audio!
That video will introduce the project when it launches, and while I am still nervous about having other people see and hear it, I know he did a remarkable job.
By the way, if you want to sign up for a reminder when the project launches, here’s a link to the Pre-launch page. Followers are greatly appreciated. I will undoubtedly remind you all again when we actually launch.
I will try to put together a few posts about the process of building the Kickstarter itself to share what I learn along the way.
If you have interest in running a Kickstarter of your own one of these days, an even better resource is Loren Coleman’s Crowdfunding Your Fiction, available in ebook, with a limited number of print copies available through Catalyst Game Labs. In addition, WMG Publishing has a free companion video series available on Teachable. Those are the resources I used to design this campaign.
So today I am in my office, writing and doing some of the chores that support my writing. I’m working on my taxes. I’m planning a couple short trips to see my kids, since it’s birthday time for both of them. In short, I am moving, and that movement translates to momentum.
Not as much mass as the rocket in the first picture, but it just goes to show - the momentum is definitely building!
Find your momentum. Look for the opportunity to move forward, even just a step or two, because movement leads to momentum, which leads to more movement.
The laws of physics say we will never find perpetual motion (dang it!), but they do promise momentum if we just start moving.