A few months prior to leaving my thirty-year teaching career, I started to think hard about the things I would need to do to make it as a writer — the things I would need to do to have the fortitude to keep pursuing my dream because I knew that it would be a difficult task. I immediately honed in on the need to do something every day that moved my writing journey forward and the need to realize that it was all on me whether I ever succeeded at this or not.
I’ve spent the past two years working on my writing and the myriad things related to it, but I wasn’t yet 100 percent invested in that role of being an author because another important role always took priority — the role of “Mom.” However, my youngest child is now fully on her own (after beginning her career at the start of June), and I found myself having an empty-nest existential crisis meltdown (because I spent almost 30 years giving so much of myself to that “Mom” role), so I realized that I needed to revisit that list of priorities and spruce it up to give myself some guidance and encouragement as I now shift the bulk (let’s say 99.5 %) of my focus to the writer/author role that means so much to me.
Naturally, I’ll never completely toss aside my Mom cloak; I won’t wear it as often, but I’ll keep it handy for those times when it’s needed. Then I can just slip it on over top of my writerly digs. (By “writerly digs,” I mean sweatpants and a Harley-Davidson t-shirt most days.)
I’ve also been rereading bits and pieces of my favorite writer “advice” book which is “Making a Literary Life” by Carolyn See. I love the title of that book — it’s what initially drew me to purchase it many years ago because that’s what I want, a literary life.
Carolyn passed away a few years ago, but I wrote to her shortly after first reading this wonderful book, and she wrote me back. I still have her lovely postcard, and when I learned that she had died, I wrote to her well-known daughter, Lisa See, and Lisa also wrote me back!
Anyway, getting back to the point of this week’s “topic” — how do I go about making my own “literary life” and making me and my hopes, goals, dreams, etc. the focus of my life, the entire focus (minus the occasional “Mom” moment)?
After pondering that for a bit and because I’m a visual person, I decided to create a manifesto for myself.
A manifesto is “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.” This is the definition according to merriam-webster.com.
By sharing it here, I’m publicly declaring my views. My overall intention is simply to live a “literary life” in which I strive every day to move my writing journey forward.
My views, as expressed in this manifesto, though, are guiding tenets for the way I want to live my life — to have a literary and a meaningful life.
Thus, I give you the 15 parts of My Manifesto:
1. Make time for what matters – if I can’t or won’t make the time, then it must not matter, but if it does matter, then I will make the time. 2. Do something every single day to move my writing journey forward – Every. Single. Day. No exceptions. The “something” can be small, but it must be “something.” Slow and steady, with a focus on STEADY. I call this “Chandlerizing” my life. 3. If not you, then who? – I, and I alone, am responsible for my own progress and success. 4. Get up and move every day – yoga every morning, evening walks, swim when it’s possible, etc. 5. Travel often and leave the itinerary open for whatever comes my way. Often the best adventures happen from the least of planning. Go to new places and try new things and new food. 6. Cultivate new friendships and cherish the old ones that I still have. Continue to honor those I’ve lost to cancer and other illnesses but make new friends in the literary and cultural world. 7. Read something substantial every day – a short story, part of a novel, some poems, an essay, etc. 8. Leave the past in the past – learn from my mistakes but stop living with regret. 9. Breathe. 10. Don’t overthink. Control what I can control and let go of the rest. 11. Help those who need it, defend the underdog, and avoid negative people. 12. Pet every dog I can. Dogs are the best. 13. Wind therapy is the only kind I need. 14. My kids are grown, so this is my time now. Use it wisely and don’t squander a moment. 15. Tidy and toss – my thoughts, my house, and my writing. Rid my mind of useless worries, my life of useless things, and my writing of useless content.
The ones that I struggle with the most are numbers 8 and 10. Regret often consumes me, and I spend far too much time wishing I could go back in time and do things differently even though I know that I cannot. It’s important that I stop allowing regret to gets its nasty hooks into me. I also overthink and stir up the anxiety pot inside of me by creating worrisome scenarios that only exist in my mind. I know when I’m doing it, so I will work much harder on shifting my thoughts elsewhere when I begin to overthink.
In Number 2, you may wonder what I mean by “Chandlerizing” my life. If so, please read the following blog post I wrote on March 18, 2022: Chandlerizing my life
In relation to Number 13, that involves my motorcycle. If you’re a paying subscriber, I’m going to share a portion of the novel I’m still trying to complete called “Her Ride or Die,” which is a suspense thriller, in which I’ve incorporated that “wind therapy.” Her therapy session gets interrupted, though. Read on to find out how.
If you’re not yet a paying subscriber, consider becoming one, so you can have sneak peeks at what I’m working on. Thanks for your support.
Tammy Marshall
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