It's 9AM

What I Know and What I Do ,or at least should

Did you know I’m on GOOGLE BOOKS!?!

I know I can write.

Hell, you’ve heard the expression

10,000 hours makes you an expert

Puts you in the 1% club

And I’ve spent twice that writing books

10X times that typing stories

I’ve done it publishing

In video

In blogs and posts and just about anywhere

Anyone can put words

I’m like a graffiti artist when it comes to sharing stuff I’ve done

But…

I skipped writing poetry for about twenty years

No money in it

And I wrote a lot in high school

I mean, really bad lot of it in high school,

Plus I suffered a bunch of people to read it

Or at least glance at it

Because I was the editor of the literary magazine

And a lot of my stuff got submitted and picked by a committee

So even though it was a blind selection

I still had a better shot of getting in and getting seen

Through the simple fact I submitted ten times more than anyone else

Plus, I just kept writing

Kept practicing

I wrote scripts, and copy, and the stutter starts of two dozen novels

I wrote westerns, and thrillers

Post apocalyptic alien invasions,

Sci fi comedy, zombie chases

Cozy mysteries and full on fantasy

I didn’t just try it all

I just kept going

Putting words on paper, loading up Terabytes of information

And learning

Learning how to be better

I saw an interview with Mr. Beast, who is the most viewed content creator on Youtube

He said anyone could get better if they started one day and made something

Then tried to make it 1% better the next time,

And then 1% better the time after that

And keep making it 1% better each time you do it

Which jibes with the 10,000 hour rule

Because if you strum a guitar chord for the very first time and it’s flat

9,999 more times will make it second nature

Or code an app

Or do a push up

Or run a mile

OR write a song

Now I’m having help

I don’t play an instrument and although I can carry a tune

It sounds like I’m singing into a bucket

Or maybe I would sound better if I did sing in a bucket

But auto tune and auto instrument and auto AI can all try to fix it

So I tried my hand at writing some songs

Because of this particular season of reasons

I try very hard not to get too impressed or proud of anything I’ve done

I can always do better

The voice in my head tells me so

But Seth Godin and Gary Vee said the same thing

Another rule I took to heart

MAKE IT and SHIP IT

Because a done story sitting in a file folder on a laptop is worthless

So is anything else

And though I probably won’t get on stage

Once I learn to play the banjo

I will share that on the stage of Youtube

Just like I’m sharing what I LOVE TO COOK

And what I’d like to DRIVE

Where I’m going, what I’m doing, how I spend my time,

Like yesterday on a walk, I had an idea when a phrase popped into my head

A barstool bard sharing whiskey wisdom

I had to open up my phone and jot it down, because I didn’t want to forget it.

So that I could get back to the laptop and type this below;

Well a lonely heart gets ruthless

And I’ll tell you what the truth is,

Remembering you has been on my mind,

And I think that it’s just about time,

For me to get out just to find,

A little country girl that I can grind

As soon as I can I’m getting laid too,

I’m getting under someone to get over you,

Heartbroke, half drunk and crazy

kinda wondering if whiskey can save me

but ain't a bottle deep enough

to help me drown all that stuff

Then I enter into my music maker

Punch, click, press, tab, adjust, etc

Until I’m happy with what comes out-

Including adding my own much modified voice to it

I like reading about overnight success stories

Because they usually take a lot of years

I only know of two times when it didn’t

And I’ll mention them in a moment

You’ll know both

But

Overnight success averages ten years

A lot of late nights in honky tonk bars

State fairs and festivals and busking

Time in the saddle

Not just for singing or writing

It’s for anything

Think about the very first time you drove your car

Hands at ten and two

Eyes roving the roads

Hunting up all the other iron boxes speeding to kill you

And now it’s easy

So simple that we do it with one hand most of the time

One eye on the road, the other on the phone

Or the backseat, checking kids or checking make up

Or checking who the idiot is in the other lane

Ten thousand hours behind the wheel has made us all experts on road etiquette

Technique, rules, and when they don’t apply

If you spent as much time Making as you did Driving, where would you be?

More skill than luck UNLESS

You are the “Hawk Tuah” girl.

I think her name is Hailey, and she went Tik Tok viral with a drunken catchphrase on a “man on the street” interview

It morphed into a brand because of how viral it went, and she put out merchandise, went on a podcast circuit, and more.

She went from drunk college girl out on the town to an estimated net worth of $2 Million (I’ve read one estimate of $12M, but if that’s right then I’m doing something wrong. We all are.)

Two words that took her to $2M in less than a year.

Or Kwame I don’t remember his last name.

You’ve seen him though.

He got laid off in 2020 from a warehouse job, did a bunch of no talk videos on Tik Tok where he made fun of “hacks” and shrugged his shoulders.

Making fun of people who make things harder than they have to be is a vital life skill.

He mastered it.

Maybe his 10k hours came while he was working a warehouse job and just living his life, being funny, and making fun of every day situations.

When he filmed it, we got to see the end result of a private learning process.

Maybe.

But those are the two I know that didn’t do stage, or seat or time to get to where they were.

Exceptions, not rules.

Like writing songs.

I don’t think I am an exception.

Or even exceptional.

Every single person reading this has had a broken heart.

I’d bet more than most have broken hearts too.

I know a lot have had tough lives, and got knocked down.

I know a lot of have clawed their way back, to a better place of peace.

They did it without a platform or youtube channel or singing songs.

They did their practice in private.

I can’t wait to see what they do in public.

Here’s some of what I do:

Wrote this: Heartbroke and Heartsick (Go listen and watch)

Wished I could Drive This: CLASSIC CAR (ErMerGerd, this ride!)

Made This: High Energy Breakfast Cheat Code (This will literally change your life)

Got This Book Ready For You: Pushing Luck (so save up your $2.99 to grab it)

Did This For Your Smile: (Because when you smile, my guardian angels get their wings) (yes, I go through A LOT of guardian angels)

And These Are Free Today:

Warrior Soul: A Tye Caine Wilderness Mystery FREE

Table 13: An addictive suspense thriller FREE

Jackets, Jack-O-Lantern, & Justice (A Camper & Criminals Cozy FREE

Sex, Lies, and Snickerdoodles: A Humorous Cozy FREE

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