“There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.” ~ Robert Byrne
I try to always be a part of the former group that Mr. Byrne details in his quote above. The idea of a project half-done, or worse yet done but not to the best of my ability, makes my stomach turn. I can’t leave things is a state of potential. I like completing things – it’s in my Piscean nature. Because we are the last sign of the zodiac we like endings, preferably happy ones. To compound matters, under the Chinese Zodiac I’m a Fire Dragon. Look out world. I’m here to get things done!
Which brings me to a somewhat troubling and confusing matter in my writing. For about 6 months I’ve had an idea for a book that uses the tenants of a strong yoga practice as the tenants for building a solid personal finance plan. I’m making some progress. Outline’s done and the structure is pretty solid. The first 4 chapters are in very rough written form, and I’ve started on chapter 5. Arguably, these 4 chapters were the hardest to write. Still, I’m not happy with this progress. I wanted to be further along by now. Heck, I wanted to be done by now. And not just because I like to finish projects, but also because this book is really needed, can help a lot of people, and fills a tough-to-fill niche.
So what’s the problem? My multi-tasking nature is getting the best of me, despite my very best attempts at being a recovering multi-tasker. Here’s where the rubber meets the road, where my curious nature gets the best of me. I meditate. I do yoga. And still I’m a little afraid of writing this book because I don’t want it to be less than really awesome. The subject, and the people I’m writing the book for, deserve awesome. And awesome is a tall order.
Of course, I absolutely refuse to stay in this state. I refuse to be my own writing enemy, my own personified version of writer’s block. My perfectionist tendencies are really going to have to find some other place to hang out for a while. I’m taking myself on vacation. A writing vacation.
So what is a writing vacation? I’m going to spend an entire luxurious vacation with the main focus being writing and nothing else. Truth be told, I’m going to do a few other things. I’m going to take some yoga classes, meditate, walk Phin, and eat delicious food, all in an attempt to funnel my creative mind into this book. Other than that, I’ll be in front of my Mac typing away. I’m going to get this rough draft, a full rough draft, completed by Labor Day. No excuses. And you can hold me to that. Actually, I absolutely want you to hold me to that. This self-imposed deadline is just the motivation I need to get my perfectionism to take a break. I’m just going to write until it’s done.
Christa Avampato 