So, About Writing Anywhere, Everywhere, All The Time (104 Followers!)

Thank you to the 104 who hit follow, for whatever reason you had! I want to talk about how I squeezed writing into the insanely busy week I just had.

Why is my header image for this little piece of Medium writing a goat?

Aside from the fact that I took care of 5 goats and 2 hound dogs last week as part of my pet-sitting side hustle, goats are tenacious.

Goats climb, and climb, and climb, and they don’t care how high they get or how dangerous it is.

Even if they’re chasing one tiny twig sticking out of a cliff face.

That’s how I felt about writing this past week. While my Ikigai is yet to make me much cash, that doesn’t really effect the Ikigai-ness of it now, does it?

The Best Piece of Writing Advice I Ever Received

Honestly I feel like we’re all a bit sick of the term “writing advice.” But we can never be burnt out on new ideas for creating now can we?

One of the absolute BEST pieces of writing advice I ever got was this:

Train yourself how to write anywhere. No matter the noise, distractions, or environment.

The summer of 2015, when I wrote my current WIP The Wolfena, I trained myself in the “Art of Writing Anywhere.”

Funny enough, turning 30 has brought me right back to where I was that summer fresh out of college.

Running around, taking care of people’s animals, cleaning houses, and ignoring the world in favor of my words.

This is how I can write. Being a weird eclectic Jill of Trades and filling those freelance gaps with writing.

The difference this time is I’m actually building something, and unfortunately… I’m not as good at writing anywhere and everywhere as I used to be…

Even so, I spend my cleaning time brainstorming my fantasy fiction WIPs. I work on my developmental editing business while I’m hanging with hounds. I post on Pinterest during my breaks from Barista-ing. (yes, I really do hold down all of these jobs at once).

The Second Best Piece of Writing Advice I Ever Received

Of course, it’s not my ideal. I’d rather be in a log cabin, woodstove burning, tapping away on The Wolfena. But this life reflects the second best piece of writing advice I’ve ever gotten:

Work part time. Design your life around writing. Create.

I’m willing to muck stalls and forgo social events to make sure I have enough time for writing. I don’t date, nor have any plans to settle down. My bi-yearly vacations are usually to Futurescapes or another writing workshop. This all has been true for many years.

Writing isn’t something I do. Writing is my life and everything else is something I do. This doesn’t necessarily make me special — lots of people love writing. But I do think pursuing it this ultimately is unique.

Writing comes first.

104 followers on Medium is a nice progression from the 20-something Ari Jensine who originally made this account. I remember first reading about the PP and thinking “Ha. There’s no way I can get to 100 followers.”

The biggest difference between the 20-something me and the now me is I’ve realized this takes months. Years. Whatever “this” is: publishing my fantasy novels, making money as an SEO writer, or as a thriving developmental fiction editor.

Or maybe just writing, however that manifests.

Finally Reading The Writing On The Wall

When I turned 30, I hit a wall. A big one. I got mad, and tired, and nihilistic, but this razed landscape inside me naturally led to something more peaceful and productive.

The truth was written on that wall.

I’m not in a rush anymore. I took my time getting to 100 followers on Medium (technically it took about 6 years lol).

But since I started posting again on this account, it definitely happened faster than I expected. From 23 ancient ghost followers to at least 80 humans (I hope) who clicked the follow button in the last 3 weeks.

I won’t say I don’t need the money from the PP, but I’m well aware this place is no cash cow. It’s okay, even if it just buys me a coffee next month. (No, Baristas don’t get free coffee all the time :/)

I just want to write!!!!

☄. *. ⋆

If you read to the end, holy wow thank you! That’s pretty rare.

As a reward, I have some cool stuff for creatives and fantasy writers over at Common Ink and Fighting For Writing, respectively.

If you wanna hang out with my Weird Self, I’m on Tumblr, and my Professional Self lives on LinkedIn.

Borahae, Much Love, 好き, Be Well!

-Ari