Sometimes it feels like nothing’s moving forward. There are a dozen things to be done. And you decided last night which one of those to work on in the morning.

But when you wake up, the original debate on which of them to do starts again.

I have to continue writing Book 2. I also need to create a reader magnet ( a shorter prequel of my book “The Extraordinary Life of Riz”) so I can use it to build my newsletter mailing list. It’s also time to read through the first half of Book 2 and create a stronger second draft of it. I need to share it with immediate family for early feedback before I continue writing it. And, of course, let’s not forget all the social media marketing to build an audience.

My plan on Monday was to start writing the reader magnet. I decided a few weeks ago that this short story/prequel will be either about Big Al or Dua. But for many moments today I debated again whether I should get back to writing Book 2. Or maybe editing the first half of it.

And that left me feeling all confused and scattered in my mind again, as if I didn’t know what to do, and even where to start.

Finally I got control back of my wandering, lost monkey mind after I told myself, “You already decided to write the reader magnet first so the mailing list building can go on in the background while you write Book 2. So stick with it. It’ll take two weeks, and then you’ll be done with it.”

With my mind finally getting it’s orders, I opened my writing notebook and looked at the empty pages I had denoted to Big Al’s story and Dua’s story.

I didn’t feel comfortable writing Dua’s prequel. I’d explored her character so deeply in “The Extraordinary Life of Riz”, including her love, arrogance, warmth, and even her borderline psychotic tendencies when Hunger took over, that I felt I couldn’t handle writing about her childhood (nymph-hood?) just yet. So I decided to focus on Big Al.

But when I looked at the blank page on Big Al, I couldn’t come up with a story line. I didn’t even know where to start, or what kind of nymph-hood he had before he met his best friend, Riz.

So then I got another idea. Maybe my reader magnet could be a short story continuing the hermit crab travel snippet I wrote. I’d always wondered if I’ll turn it into a book one day, but maybe I could use it right now. It certainly felt easier to continue writing from that initial scene, rather than writing Big Al’s story.

When I opened the hermit crab file on my laptop, and saw the couple of pages already written, I felt I finally had direction. And so I started writing.

Soon, I hit a hurdle. I needed to know how often a hermit crab changes his shell and what its body parts are called, in order to continue writing.

So I started to search the internet for the answers. I had to accept that the day may be spent just researching the biology, life-cycle and life of a hermit crab. The more I researched, the more I started to feel, “Wait a minute. I’m going to do all this research for a reader magnet? Not an actual book. Just a reader magnet?”

And suddenly the first scene appeared in my mind for Big Al’s prequel! 😃

Now, as I’ve started writing Big Al’s prequel story to “The Extraordinary Life of Riz”, what are the lessons in the above snippet? 😇

“Sometimes showing up is the answer, even if you don’t know the next step. Showing up is the first step.”

I showed up, did not let my monkey mind keep me lost, and started writing the reader magnet, even though I didn’t know what I’d write. But I showed up and kept the next 3 hours dedicated to starting this project.

“And sometimes the answer suddenly appears when you decide to do something else.” 😃

I didn’t have any ideas for Big Al’s story, and decided to switch to an idea (the hermit crab) that felt more open in possibilities. And just by switching my focus, and easing the pressure, the story for Big Al suddenly emerged on it’s own.

So, if you’re stuck on something, maybe it’s best to walk away for a few moments or days and do something else. The answer may miraculously appear when you least expect it. 🙂

Have you had such moments in your life?