E.R. COOK

Ever have one of those moments where life gets busy and you have to choose what to stop focusing on? The “I’ll call them next week” or “I’ll deal with that when things slow down” moments? Then you blink and you realize its been two months (or six) and you still haven’t done the thing? That moment where you feel embarrased, or realize as your stomach drops to the floor that you messed up some deadline? Welcome to the modern busy life. Where we have way too much stuff to do for the time that we have. What I wouldn’t give to either have three of me or a 36-hour day.

But that’s what I’m discovering about being a part-time professional writer. Finding balance is hard, between the things I have to do to be an adult like having a regular job and paying bills and taking care of a house and my partner and my own mental and physical health, and the things I want to do: writing, creating, and getting a readership so that someday (maybe) this could be my real job.

What I’m also discovering is that I really don’t like social media. Not only am I just realizing that there are way too many trolls out there (the scrolling gets depressing), its so hard to keep up with it all as one person. I try to keep up with my Instagram, but creating content takes so much work. Especially because I don’t want to be another “here’s my video on the top 5 (insert x) things you need to do”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, if that’s your brand. But it’s not mine. There’s enough of that already. So, I try to post other random things. The baby birds in my backyard. Where I get inspiration from. The other hobbies that I have other than writing.

I went back to school to get my bachelor’s degree, and took classes in creating social media plans. How to post, when to post, what to post. I can create an amazing plan. But implementation? Not my strong suit.

But that’s all part of this journey for me. Talking about the things that trip me up. The things that go great. The unexpected surprises. The pitfalls. Because contrary to popular belief, writers do not spring fully-formed from keyboards writing amazing things. We all start like me, someone who has a story to tell putting pen to paper, or keyboard to screen. Maybe you’re lucky enough to get into a publishing company, who handle a lot of the pitfalls for you (as well as introducing completely new ones). But for the modern self-publisher, there is a world of stuff out there to confuse and amaze.

So, what’s new with me since the last time I checked in?

• Wrote and submitted my first one-act play to a local contest. I was introduced to screen/playwriting in one of my college classes. I loved it, but had forgotten about the format until a friend who is an actor in a local group told me about a contest they were putting on. I decided to give it a go and had a week to write, edit and submit a play. The play is called “Nobody’s Perfect” and based on an upcoming book idea about a female serial killer. It was an intense experience, and a leap into the unknown. I’m not really expecting to make it in to the finals as it was my first try and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But I don’t regret trying. It feels great to express myself in different formats, and even though the play takes a slightly different road than what I want to take with the book, it allowed me to delve deeper into my characters. How they think. How they move. Their motivations. Their back story. It was scary to put myself out there, but it made me realize that I’m more scared to not try. It’s definitely not the last script contest I want to enter.
• Started work on a short story book. I’m about ten stories in, and the book is a genre mix-up. Science fiction, fantasy, psychedelic, horror – it combines it all. But I think that even within the chaos there is a theme – what is reality, really? It’s also going to showcase some of my drawings. There isn’t a timeframe on this book yet since I’m focused on the trilogy and its more of a ‘as I get inspired’ stage right now.
• I now have twenty chapters completed in the next installment of The Planetary Series. Planetary Disruption picks up where Planetary Feedlot leaves off. No spoilers here, go read the book. However, I’m hopeful to finish the book by the end of summer and begin the editing process to have it finished and published by November. Stay tuned for updates!

That’s really all for now. I have a lot of plans for the upcoming future, but I know action is a lot louder than words so I’m going to try to let my actions speak.

Happy writing! Good luck on your own journey.