The Magic of Mammoth Caves

Got my two story ideas down and stored in my new WriteItNow software.  It's really easy to use.  I tried to get to grips with Scrivner several times without success, despite many friends of my swearing by it.  But enough about which writing software is best.  This blog is dedicated to whether writing your goals down enables you to achieve.

Two days into the new year challenge there should be no surprises that I'm still on target and feeling pretty motivated.  The only difference with this new method is I'm not struggling to get everything done.

Writing things down in conjunction with journaling is certainly helping to keep me in a positive mindset and when it came to planning my first new story idea, I had no problem structuring the plot start to finish.  So why the picture from Mammoth Caves?

Well, Mammoth Caves is the inspiration for the Alchemyne Series I'm working on, which is about a society that lives by the alchemy philosophy and lives underground, in the gothic splendour.

As I've already shared with you, I began to think back to Write It Down Make it Happen when I realised visiting Mammoth Caves was on my original wish list, and considering it's not an easy place to get to from Hong Kong, it's pretty amazing I ever made it there.  It was everything I could have ever wished for and more. The guides, in fact everyone at Mammoth National Park were incredibly knowledgably had helpful and all the caves were breathtaking.

You've never known the true meaning of darkness until you turn off the lights in a cave, and you've never seen beauty like it when they turn the lights back on.  Caves have souls, there's something definitely spiritual being inside the.  Some caves even have their own flowers!  They are made of gypsum and the slight breeze or touch could destroy them unfortunately.

I could write about the caves all day, but you'll have to wait to see what my caves in Alchemyne look like when I finish my novel.

Good luck with all your New Year's resolutions and thank you for checking out my blog.

See you tomorrow
Alex Dunn

StoryStorm - Here I come

StoryStorm is a month-long story idea brainstorming event.  Last time I came up with some amazing ideas for short-stories.  This year I'm going to focus on backstories for the main characters of my Alchemyne series and some short-stories for minor and supporting characters.

I decided to make this one of my goals because I like a challenge, it's great connecting with other writers (all of which are super nice and helpful) and it's a great way to get creative.  I feel energised and excited coming up with new tales, and I'm going to use my new writing software WriteItNow to do all my story outlining, so I'll get to learn the software at the same time.

See how being organised helps you achieve multiple goals?

Being organised is the single most important quality I've taken from all the many books I've read about achieving and obtaining your goals. My career (the one that pays the rent) took off when I read The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey and I got my first personal organizer.

Every week without fail, I planned out what I needed to get done.  Guess what? I got more done, got promotions and started earning some good money for the first time in my life. So by applying this same process to my personal goals the result should be the same, right?

This is why I decided to give Write it Down, Make it happen a go, because by writing things down (note writing/not typing) it somehow makes it more real (don't ask me how), it keeps these thoughts in your active mind and at all times you end up working on them, even if you are not aware you are doing so.

I'm no psychologist, but it works and ever since I wrote down all my writing goals, I have found an increase in my focus and drive.

So 1st January - I'm on my way to completing 2 of my goals!  Good luck to all of you with your own writing aspirations!

A Different New Year's Resolution - Can it really work?

Like many of you, I have new year resolutions which I never stick to.  I usually fail even before Chinese New Year which is why I looked towards other inspirations to achieve those really hard to reach goals that require dedication and in some case lots of denial.

I achieve at work, but at work there are consequences of not delivering. That said, I don’t think that is the only reason I’m more successful inside the work place. At work I’m organised, I have plans which I execute against which are all written down!

That’s why I read Write It Down Make ItHappen by Henriette Anne Klauser so I could achieve the same level of results outside work for the things I really want.  On my list there’s the usual health, travel and financial security goals: This blog is my journey to completing all my writing goals, because that’s what I really love doing. Writing books and engaging with my fellow authors and readers, who love books too.

So goodbye 2018, I’m looking forward to starting anew in 2019!