Someday Syndrome

I've been reading a blog called "Someday Syndrome" that deals with procrastination. Sure enough, someday I will ... what? Write my novel? Finish my fish pond? Grow up? Ummm, no, that may be pushing it a bit.

Alex Fayle asks a series of questions to get you started. Here are his questions.

1. What is my "Someday"?
2. When do I want to complete it?
3. What are the big steps to get there?
4. What am I doing right now to move things forward?
5. How much progress have I made since starting?
6. Anything missing?

I thought these were very good questions, and might actually be able to help me get started.

What is my "Someday"?

I've started writing three short stories, and each one grew out of control, only to be abandoned as I started another one. NaNoWriMo is coming again in November, and I'd like to be prepared for it. Meaning, having these other stories out of the way. I've want to finish Raider, Green Land, and Shadowsmith by October 31st.

When do I want to complete it?

Well, I want to finish them by October 31st, but ... I've got lots of excuses why I can't, or won't. Perhaps I need to set time limits on each of them. I have six and a half months to go. That gives me two months each, plus 2 weeks leeway. So, finish Raider by June 15th, Shadowsmith by August 15th, and Green Land by October 15th. Give or take a few days. Raider and Shadowsmith are nearly finished anyway. At least, in my head. Green Land keeps getting longer, so I put it last. If I don't finish it, it won't keep me from having done the other two.

What are the big steps to get there?

First, I need to find the notebooks I have the stories written in. I do most of my work long hand, then type it up. That is where I usually have problems. If I have it written down, the story is finished enough for me to enjoy, so why go through the effort of typing it? It's like doubling my work. I also have to work out the details of the endings. I've got the general idea in mind, just not the details. So, find the notebooks, type what I have, and work out the ending.

What am I doing right now to get there?

I've found almost all my written material for Raider already. Unfortunately, a few pages are missing from one of my notepads, so I had to go back and reconstruct the missing material. Its been nearly 3 years since I wrote those pages, and I'm a bit fuzzy on what was there to begin with, but I think I did okay stitching my seams together. I haven't looked for the rest of Green Land or Shadowsmith yet. If I find them now, I'd just lose them again anyway.

How much progress have I made since starting?

I found all my printed material from Raider, and re-read it, so I knew where I'd been, and my characters names. Then I forged on through my hand-written material, filled in that one gap, and wrote a few more pages.

Anything missing?

Yeah, I haven't typed anything up yet. I need to start typing what I have while I have a chance. Faith's laptop broke a while back, so she needs the desktop on occasion. I can write while she's on here, but I need to type while I have it available to me.

This is my "someday." What's yours, and what are you doing about it?

"Stop selling what you have ...

"Stop selling what you have, and start selling what they need. -- IBM"

I found this quote on Twitter, posted by Adrian Warnock.  Okay, honestly, I assume he's quoting something IBM said at one point, although I couldn't find it.  I googled it a bit, and found someone else quoting it a while back, saying its from an ad he saw by IBM.  Even knowing that, I couldn't track it down.  Nevertheless, it got me thinking, (which is something I do when people aren't talking to me).

The church needs to hear this, too.  We have been selling what we have, instead of what the world needs.  And what is it we have?  I guess it depends on where you live.  In America, we have an awful lot.  (Stress on the awful part.)  When I was in college, one of the "big things" circulating was the "Faith Movement," or Hyperfaith, or the name-it-and-claim-it people.  Basically, they said, God loves us and doesn't want to deny us anything.  So, if we pray with faith, God has to answer us, because of His nature and his promises.  "They say I need a shopping mall" mocked Steve Taylor.  I need a bigger house, or a Porsche.

But the world has these things.  It has all these things and more.  More than I can state here.  More than I can even imagine.  Things out of science fiction are popping up today.  The world has "gained the world", but it doesn't need them.

The world also doesn't need another testimony of what "God has done in my life."  Rock stars and movie actors saved from selfish and destructive lifestyles are powerful testimonies.  Then there are stories of kids raised in the midst of gang warfare and drugs, and come through it like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  God was able to preserve them from falling into that lifestyle, and they don't even smell like smoke.

These are stories from the Church, about the Church.  They are interesting and amusing, sometimes relevant and heart-rending.  But they aren't powerful.  We need to be witnesses to the life of Christ.  His life is the One that can change us.  These others are "effects" to His "cause."  He is the source of power and change.  

Jesus Christ is the exact image of God (Hebrews 1).  If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God (John 1).  His love, His power, His message, His words.  Jesus Christ is, in every aspect of His life, God.  The story of His life demands people make a choice:  believe and be saved, or reject Him and remain in their damnation.

My life makes no such demands.  These are stories about me.  I hope you laugh with me, and have fun with me.  But you don't need me.  The world doesn't need me.  I can offer myself as a friend, or a co-worker, or an anonymous voice online.  But my life has no inherent power in it.

Christ's life is the Gospel.  It is "good news" for all people.  It is powerful.

We have stories, and they need power.

It is the Gospel of Christ Jesus that changes lives, not our anecdotes.