Creativity

About a year ago I started writing the first draft of my next book. If you count earlier iterations that only led to refining the outline and restarting, I probably started six months earlier, not that I kept track. I had finished my first draft a few months later, spring 2021. I knew when I started writing my second non-self-published book, Initiative, that I would write my next book on sustainability. I had just started This Sustainable Life, called Leadership and the Environment at the time, and anticipated podcasting would help develop it. It did. The new book will be much stronger for it. This time I worked with an editor far more experienced than before. At first, I reeled from the amount of editing…

I've never cared much one way or the other about kombucha. I've tasted it once or twice, but it comes packaged, so I avoid it. I've been making vinegar for a while from apples and water, sometimes adding sugar, since I have some a neighbor left when he moved. The vinegar tastes delicious and has resulted in a bunch of the yeast and bacteria cultures that grow as I pass them from one batch to the next. I figured kombucha and vinegar were similar, just kombucha had tea. I don't drink much tea. In fact, I have two containers of tea leaves at least ten years old in my cupboard for guests, but I rarely make any. Finally, it hit me; if I take over…

I doubt I'll ever write a novel, but if I do, a long time ago I thought of an idea. I've never told it to anyone. My idea is a full novel written on an almost momentary incident, written from several people's perspectives, each in a different chapter. I generally think of writing it on a single pitch in a baseball game. The perspectives would be the pitcher, batter, catcher, umpire, an infielder or two, an outfielder or two, and maybe some people off the field, like a fan or two, a coach, and maybe someone watching on TV. How would I construct a narrative about a couple seconds? I think people's thoughts in intense moments like that become heightened so I'd explore the characters'…

I finished writing the first draft of my third book to be published. I count my first two books, which I self-published, in a different category. No one has read a word of this one yet. I'm prepared that others may think it sucks. The next step is to start editing, enough to include something great in the proposal, most of which I've written, but it needs to include a chapter or two. I signed up for a writing workshop, which helped guide and motivate me. It has worked wonders, and I expected a lot. I've attended every session, reflecting on what I learned. I mark this evening as the milestone of finishing the draft since I sent it to the workshop leader for my…