Why I write random stuff

I have absolutely no idea, only that.. it feels right and easy.

Looking back though my old posts, it was so different. I went from art, to game development, to preachy-inspirational, to professional-looking blogs, to lists, to dogs... 

My entries don't make sense at all. 

I want to build a community. That's a nice dream, right? I think that's every blogger's dream. 

I have followed tons of bloggers who also preach what I'm aiming for. James Clear. Jeff Goins. Alexander Hayne, Nicolas Cole....

Majority of them preach of looking for your audience, posting lengthy entries, finding your niche, do this and not that....the list goes on and on. I reached this point of analysis by paralysis. 

There was just too much bloggers with too much advice. 

.......then Seth Godin entered the picture like The Flash.

His advice was profoundly simple: Show up Sit Down and *insert activity*, or SUSDA

Blog daily? I can't even sketch daily!

I tried his concept in April, but it panned. Then I stopped posting in May... until I re-discovered CJ Chilvers in June 2016. 

CJ Chilvers known for The Lesser Photographer. I read his work when it was still a free PDF document that you could download over tumblr. I believe he took it down and is currently selling the book. 

Apparently, CJ also dances the same groove Seth Godin does. Go to Chilver's blog and you'll see what I mean. He writes daily. His posts are short. 

Hey, I could try that. 

So I wrote daily. I wrote two entries a day: post the first one, automate the second one to post on the next day. 

The next day, I did it again. The next next day, I did it again. 

Rinse. Repeat. 

Combine SUSDA with the idea that you don't have to please every body. That nobody's even reading it. Just post. Show up. 

So I write stuff that interests me. I keep a jot down notebook for potential entries. Some sound good, some don't. But hey, it's still an idea. 

I continue to write random stuff. I know that I'll eventually discover my niche, my voice and my market.

But first, let me write daily. 

Nothing changes in your life unless you make it happen

I'm going to say it again, "Nothing is going to change unless you make it happen".

I sat down on my desk and wrote my morning pages at work when this epiphany came out of nowhere.

Where have I heard of this? Oh yeah, from Nicolas Cole.

I am currently living the life I have dreamed after passing the Nurse Licensure Exam

I do not want to be a nurse. Nurses work irregular shifts. I want a plain 8-5 job. It's routinary. I can control my own time. There's consistency... blah blah blah.

Four years later, it can be downright depressing.

Yes, I am living a routine. A monotonous one.

Weekdays: Wake up. Eat. Bathe. Go to office. Work. Lunch. Go home. Surf net. Sleep. Repeat. 

Weekends: Wake up. Surf net. Eat. Surf net. Bathe. Surf net. dinner. Sleep. Repeat

I allowed myself to be stuck in a place... that I knew was wonderful at first.

How do I get out?

1. I go to the gym after work. I enrolled for a gym membership with my officemates. Sometimes I go alone. Sometimes I go with them. I show up every other day. Lifting gives me a sense of confidence and a sense that I can achieve stuff.

2. Identify the routine. To have a clearer picture.

3. Substitute a different activity in the routine. What got you here won't get you there.

I know this isn't the answer to everything. I've discovered that life is full of surprises... like, I'd sustain a habit for 6 or 7 momths, then drop it afterwards.

A key here is to brush the dust of your shoulders everytime you fall down, stand up, and walk.

Nothing changes in your life unless you make it happen,

Analysis by Paralysis and my daily dispatch

1. Migraine knocked me out yesterday. I wasn't able to create my homework and my 10 daily comics. Goodbye to those lost panels... are they?

2. Today, I choose to show up. Why? Because it's one of my favorite mantras. "Show up!"

No matter how tiny or simple the project is, show up!

3. Today is my last day at graduate school. I actually finished second semester, despite wanting to give up 3 weeks earlier!

4. I crammed for a paper. Yep, I put if off for several weeks. I ignored it. Then the great day arrived when I woke up at 4am to do it. Still, I crammed from 4-6am. I was able to finish the paper from 6:45-7:40 am. Ohohoho!

5. I observed a couple of things while making the paper: I hesitated to encode anything because I was reading a lot of materials at the same time (8). I was confused. Didn't know where and how to extracr what I needed. That made me realize that I suck at multi-tasking. It's not my strength at all.

6. Number 5 is applicable to my side projects. I wasn't able to focus at class because I was bombarded with potential ideas for another story. It's an ff7 fiction (yep). "What if this happened, or what if the story went like this. Blah blah blah" . I wrote everything down on my jot down notebook. I'm working on one ff8 fiction, with a sequel to follow. While I did plan to write an ff7 fic, this second idea came like a storm. Whoooooa!

7. So I conducted my very first Idea Sex. Weird terminology. Learned it from James Altucher. But the essential idea is this : combine 2 different ideas to get new brand ideas. So I gave it a spin, and this was my output!

8. Since writing my morning pages, my penmanship has deteriorated. But I was able to get a neat idea! What if cats had a weapon attached to their tails?

So I drew it in while I was listening to my classmate's group report. It's... fugly. Ugly, I mean. Looks horrible, I know.

9. So I went viral. I knew my article was bound to meet someone who'd disagree with it. It finally did! And the person had the time and effort to write a lengthy piece on it, like wow!

10. "Nothing was going to change in my life unless I made it so" ~Nicolas Cole

Cole is one of the people I admire. I'm glad I discovered him and his life story. It's inspiring, especially the transformations he'd been through.

I like his writing style. I never get bored of it. Though some people think otherwise. When I learned he also dealt with people who outright told him he shouldn't write for "xxxx" reason, I felt some sort of camaraderie.

11. I discovered an enchanting webcomic at webtoons!

Siren's Lament and When Tangents Meet by instamiso

I love how music was incorporated into these webtoons. It makes the reading experience rich one!

But what particularly struck me when she revealed how she created When Tangents Meet, and what she had to deal with.

Another inspiration.

I suddenly felt a stir within me. To create a webtoon. Ah. Maybe. After I finish the fics. I promised myself I'd finish a project. YEOM is doing quite well.