Hey dear reader! How have you been?
As for me there have been some things I’ve been up to.

As I write this blog, I’m listening to a new playlist I purposefully created on my Spotify account as my declaration of that book I will be writing. I’ve already written the draft and have prayed for it… I even told a few friends about it and amazingly it seems everything around me was leading me to it.

…including earlier this evening.

Before that though, let me share with you what I have been up to.. and even why I am courageously sharing with you all about me writing a book (or should I say a trilogy hehe).

Podcast and Audiobooks

The pandemic may have seemingly placed everything to a stop but for me (and a few friends) it was as if God placed everything on a blank state.

Blank state — yes! Where I get to start over again although in this case, redo what I have done in the past, do something new, and reflect on how to spend time. One of the things I’ve restarted again is listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

One of the best investments I made this quarantine is spending it on an access to a 360 audiobook and ebook library and registering to a book club which gives access to members and even allows them to request some books if they don’t still have it. After being encouraged by my friend Cathy, I realized spending on these doesn’t cost much if it will help me grow more.

Other than audiobooks, I still continued to listen to The Entreleadership Podcast by Dave Ramsey, and have started to follow Ptr. Jo Bonifacio and his wife Carla’s podcast on Spotify. I also began checking cooking vlog shows as my way to catch up on my cooking skills (which I thought I lost with the years I haven’t cooked).

Time and Habit Tracking

One of the things I’m excited to share is my time and habit tracking activity. While some of us are good at discipline, in my case I’m afraid I’m not. I suck at time management despite how I seem to management well during college years…. and that was years ago.

Time tracking is a technique my friend Cathy shared with me. I may have tracked time before back in my missionary training days but this is a bit different especially more intentional. I really wanted to see also where have I been spending more time on, plus someone is holding me accountable. I even bought a Mathematics notebook earlier to keep track of time more.

I have to admit doing this is not easy. While I may only be typing in my activities, jotting down the time spent and so on, what made it hard was facing reality — I’ve spent more time on activities that could either be delegated or shouldn’t have taken time if I had habitually taken care of it before (like cleaning the kitchen).

One of these days I’ll write it all here on this blog and share with you about this even how I did my tracker. I still have a lot to improve too before I can confidently share with you all.

Making ideas to Reality

Other than podcast and time trackers, I found myself being led back to my desire of writing my book. When the ECQ started, a simple prayer came to me…”I want an idea for a book to write”

I used to write stories way back when I was in elementary and college. If there’s one thing I wanted it was to be a published author. As time passed by, the desire to have a published book wasn’t totally forgotten but somehow changed on how it should be presented. I wanted to write a book like Regina Brett’s books or perhaps a devotional… then came this thought…

Maybe I was just immersed by how Kdrama stories were made, or perhaps it was because I listened to a Harry Potter audio book recently, that I somehow thought of wanting an idea for a novel — yes A NOVEL… I suddenly missed writing stories and wondered if my head would still be able to make those kind of stories and finish it. I used to be so engrossed with the stories I write back in my elementary days that quarantine, and thoughts whether I still have what it takes, made me miss it.

It was just a silent prayer and eventually the idea came to mind…

… and WOW how it did.

How this idea came is one of the funniest stories I only told a few friends (like three friends). I prayed hard about whether this idea is from God and if He wanted me to really write it. Somehow, I seem to be pointed at it.

… and surprisingly earlier, while I was having a meeting with Cathy about my time tracking, she suggested I try “something new” per week and include it in my time.

that moment was like a GO signal to write it.

… and so I write.

These are just few of the things I’ve been up to recently… I still have a lot to share and I’m excited to write about it….

but first things first.

As I end this blog post, let me share how grateful I am for the time I’ve been given to reflect and restart some projects I’ve been putting out… including this book I am to write.

I am nervous to be honest, but just like what my friend Joy shared with me last weekend I needed to start early so I can restart again if in case I fail at this.

Failing is part of the growth process I must take — but it should be Failing while trying that is…

I would rather fail while moving forward.
I would rather fail while trying to do something.

At least these failure will help me learn, get more ideas, and grow, rather than fail because I didn’t even start in the first place.

so there…
I AM WRITING A BOOK
a NOVEL in fact…
and I’m NERVOUS about it.

… but at least I’m going to try
and at some point I’m going to fail..
but at least I started it
and right now I’m sharing it with you all…

If you’re a writer and you’ve published a book, I appreciate tips. I am open to learning.

and if you’re curious as to what is this story well it’s all about healing….I wouldn’t be publishing it yet online.

Please pray for me as I do this. I just hope I get to finish this before classes starts again.