Why I’m Still a Goal Digger

I have plenty of reasons to not be a goal digger right now.

We’re still in the midst of a global health pandemic. Young people across the country are putting their lives on the line for justice. And I’m battling breast cancer.

The picture on the left is one my husband took of me 5 years ago. It was just a few moments before I was getting ready to kick off a See Jane Write event at DISCO. The event — as you may have guessed from my t-shirt — was all about helping attendees set goals for the upcoming year and develop a plan for achieving them.

The picture on the right is one my husband took of me just a few days ago. You’ll notice my curly tresses are gone – a casualty of chemotherapy. I’m in my home office.  With all that’s going on, who knows when I’ll be able to host an in-person See Jane Write event again. But thanks to the Internet, just before this picture was taken, I was able to go live in the See Jane Write Network Facebook group to discuss the importance of setting weekly goals.

In spite of everything, I am still a goal digger. And you should be, too.

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This Journaling Practice Could Change Your Life

The first time I felt like a real writer I was 19 years old.

I wrote a news story about an affordable housing initiative, pitched it to a newspaper in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and that paper published my article.

I had my first clip and I felt legit.

But these days I feel more like a writer than I ever have before and it has nothing to do with my byline, with this blog, or with the book I’m working on.

These days I feel more like a writer than I ever have because of my new journaling practice.

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For Birmingham

Photo by Bill Blevins via Flickr Creative Commons

On June 1, I published a post titled “Dear Birmingham” in response to black-owned businesses being damaged and reporters being assaulted in the unrest of May 31 and June 1. In the post, I declared that rioting is wrong and discussed the importance of peaceful protests and strategic political action.

The next day I decided to remove this post.

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The things that cannot be torn away

“Adversity is like a strong wind. I don’t mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be.”   ― Arthur Golden

This quote found its way to me through an email newsletter from writer GG Renee.

I read it over and over again for nearly 20 minutes.

The metaphor struck me.

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3 Things You Should Know About Hybrid Publishing

When it comes book publishing, we often think we only have two options – work for years and years to land a literary agent and a book deal with a traditional publisher or strike out on our own and try our hand at self-publishing. But there is another way to get your work into the world and that’s through hybrid publishing.

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