Operation Achieve Anything: Day Two-Hundred-Eighty-Nine, Dateline 10-16-2018

Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instance of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed.
— Eileen Caddy

Good morning crickets. Welcome to day number two-hundred-eighty-nine of Operation Achieve Anything. The quest to get caught up is getting closer and closer to where I should be back to where I want to be by the start of next week. Keep in mind that when I say caught up, I actually mean slightly ahead of the game considering, other than the paid work outages that have been out of my hand I’ve had my head above the water throughout this entire challenge. Just as I have with the challenge where I’ve been watching and review every single episode of SNL once a day going on two years.

Though I’ve always tried to carry myself as a slacker, who’s chill and prefers work over play, I’ve actually always been a busybody, working away into the wee hours of the morning. Even though I’ve been at this writing game for a little over twenty-five years, I’ve always felt that my ambitions have been slightly ahead of my skill. This can be frustrating at times, like when getting feedback from someone who I’m trying to get to help learn how to articulate myself better, while they act like I think I’m offering a final draft. At the same time, I think having this passion that’s just out of reach is the true inspiration that keeps me going.

This actually plays into yesterday’s assignment where the book’s theme was “go big or go home.” Granted, they didn’t use those exact words, but that was definitely the lesson.  As for the assignment, there wasn’t really one other than to try to be more open to trying things that others think are impossible for you. As a dyslexic person who only dreams of writing, I think I embody this lesson, especially while also trying to break the mold by writing tales with untraditional structures. I actually managed to go so big that I hit a point where I had to go home, so does that technically mean that I’m on the next level?

Probably not, but I am trying my hardest to develop a text-based voice that to share the essence of me. Where yesterday’s task played into one of my self-proclaimed strengths as a writer, today’s lesson focuses on a flaw that I find hard to avoid as a writer, since the book now wants me to start thinking about letting go of the past. This is really hard for me since I continuously mine my memories for content. The book’s point was you don’t have to hold on to past identities, like a school bully, or the class dweeb, but I feel that I even need to dig into those aspects of personality to add a sense of reality to characters with the same traits.

Oops, I almost went too deep with into today’s task with my attempt at creating a cliffhanger. So, I will stop now but promise to continue on when I check in with tomorrow’s update. Until then, it’s now that time for me to say, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.

Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

The Wicker Breaker

P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.