JASON ARNOPP: AUTHOR + SCRIPTWRITER
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Ghoster
    • The Last Days Of Jack Sparks
    • Taken Over By Something Evil...
    • Beast In The Basement
    • A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home
    • American Hoarder
    • Auto Rewind
    • How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else
    • From The Front Lines Of Rock
    • Slipknot
    • Friday The 13th
    • Doctor Who
    • Brandy In The Basement
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Patreon
  • Free Stuff
  • Writing Help
    • My Etsy store for writers
    • Notes for writers. I'll assess your first three chapters.
    • Skype Coaching Sessions
    • Story Planner sheets for writers A4 printables
  • YouTube
    • My YouTube Gear
  • Classic Doctor Who
  • Films
    • Stormhouse
    • The Man Inside
    • Ghost Writer
  • Audio
    • Doctor Who
    • The Sarah Jane Adventures
    • BBC Radio 4
  • Journalism
    • Kerrang!
    • Heat
    • Doctor Who Magazine
  • Scary Letter
  • Interviews With Me
  • Wanted: VHS
  • Wanted: Mad Hatter Magic
  • Contact

Why you did more in 2019 than you think

31/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
So we're a mere two weeks away from the end of the year.

The end of the decade, actually.

And this whole decade thing is making people judge themselves even more harshly than they normally might. How much have they really achieved over the course of 12 months? Did they manage to carry out even 10% of their plans? God, maybe they're nothing more than USELESS, LAZY CHARLATANS.

I'm as prone to this kind of thinking as anyone else. And so I'd like to make you feel better, the same way I reassured myself this week.

The thing is, we are not properly equipped to judge the amount of stuff we've done in 2019. And certainly not the decade.

Why? Quite simply, we forget.

And we forget, because we've done shitloads.

Grab a piece of paper right now, or open a notepad app on your phone.

Take a deep breath. Do your best to clear your stimuli-bombarded brain.

Write a numbered list of all the new things you did this year, in no particular order.

Work stuff. Creative projects, maybe, if you're that way inclined. Be sure to include anything that was unsuccessful or felt like a dead end, because that was useful in itself. All part of the process, and it surely taught you something new.

Write down all the new TV shows you watched. The movies. The new songs by new bands, or new songs by old bands. The games you played, whether in the form of a video game or one you played with other people's hearts, you BRUTE. 

The changes you made to your lifestyle, big or small.

All the new people you met. The old people you drifted away from or downright decided to jettison. Disconnecting yourself from old possessions and people and habits and belief systems very much count as new things. 

Re-open your mind to the new stuff you did in 2019 and keep writing, writing, writing them down, spurred on as your mind leaps from one thing to the next and remembers so many buried things in the process.

Now, I don't know about you, but I really surprised myself. I won't tell you how many things are currently on the list I'm still working on, because this ain't no competition, but it certainly made me feel better.

For the hell of it, when you finish the list, multiply the total by 10 and you'll have a rough total of the number of new things you did this decade.

Chances are, it won't look too shabby.

If you still don't feel absolved, then consider that the number of things isn't as important as the sheer quality of the best new things you brought to your work and your home and your life.

If you're a creative who'd like to become more conscious of the things you create in any one week, and perhaps add a little accountability to your working routine, check out my free mailing list Jason Arnopp's Sunday Confession Booth. You may well get some value out of this thing. If nothing else, it will add to the list of new things you did in 2019...

***

And if you're an author who has a 'first three chapters' proposal package ready to send to an agent or publisher in early 2020, take advantage of my notes for authors service here.

By the way: my mailing list subscribers received this article direct to their inboxes in early December. Join them!

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Hello!

    I'm a writer of stuff for the worlds of Doctor Who, Black Mirror and Friday The 13th.

    My latest novel is Ghoster. Before that was The Last Days Of Jack Sparks and the novella Beast In The Basement.

    My latest book is Taken Over By Something Evil From The TV Set: A History Of Britain's Video Nasties Controversy & Other Scary Journalism. Yeah, that's one long title. 


    Get my book American Hoarder free when you subscribe to my monthly newsletter!
    FIND ME AT...
    ​Patreon
    ​Substack for writers
    Ko-Fi
    Retro Scary YouTube
    ​
    Metal YouTube 
    Instagram author
    Instagram rock journo
    ​Etsy shop
    Goodreads
    Twitter
    ​
    Facebook
    Picture
    I started using Publisher Rocket this summer and it's one of the coolest pieces of software for authors I've seen! Amazing for finding the best Amazon keywords, categories and ads for your books! Click the above banner for more info (affiliate).

    Picture
    If you're a fellow YouTube creator, I recommend you join me in using the very handy app TubeBuddy. Check it out for free, then use my coupon code ARNOPPBUDDY to get 20% off a subscription! (affiliate)

    MORE SOFTWARE IDEAS

    Design software 

    ClickDesigns is well worth a look, for anyone looking to easily create designs for websites and blogs.

    Handy plug-in
    DigiMember allows you to transform parts of your Word Press site into a members-only area!

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    October 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    October 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    December 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    101 Writing Fears
    Agents
    Alan Moore
    Amusement
    Audio
    Books
    Creativity
    Dialogue
    Doctor Who
    Early Drafts
    Events
    Free Books
    Horror Movies
    Industry Tips
    Interviews
    Jack Sparks
    Key Man
    Livestreaming
    Mindset
    Non Fiction
    Patreon
    Photos
    Rock Interviews
    Scriptwriting
    Short Stories
    Special Offers
    TV
    Writing
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

HOME

ABOUT

PATREON

NEWSLETTER

BLOG

Copyright Jason Arnopp © 2015-2022
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Ghoster
    • The Last Days Of Jack Sparks
    • Taken Over By Something Evil...
    • Beast In The Basement
    • A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home
    • American Hoarder
    • Auto Rewind
    • How To Interview Doctor Who, Ozzy Osbourne And Everyone Else
    • From The Front Lines Of Rock
    • Slipknot
    • Friday The 13th
    • Doctor Who
    • Brandy In The Basement
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Patreon
  • Free Stuff
  • Writing Help
    • My Etsy store for writers
    • Notes for writers. I'll assess your first three chapters.
    • Skype Coaching Sessions
    • Story Planner sheets for writers A4 printables
  • YouTube
    • My YouTube Gear
  • Classic Doctor Who
  • Films
    • Stormhouse
    • The Man Inside
    • Ghost Writer
  • Audio
    • Doctor Who
    • The Sarah Jane Adventures
    • BBC Radio 4
  • Journalism
    • Kerrang!
    • Heat
    • Doctor Who Magazine
  • Scary Letter
  • Interviews With Me
  • Wanted: VHS
  • Wanted: Mad Hatter Magic
  • Contact