Advice to the Future

ByKristen Koster

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group asked, “What advice do you think your younger self would give to you now? What advice would you give to your older self/future self?”
 

Then

Advice to the Future: A very out of focus image of a fish tank at night.
FOCUS!
In college, I first had the idea that I too could write a romance novel. It’s still firmly tucked under the bed, a few chapters in. I just sat down and started writing. No planning, no outline. Seat of my pants. And those first three chapters came out, splat onto the page. Then I hit a wall. I had no idea what happened next. In addition to that, I was in my junior year and there was so much shiny out there in the world to explore. The campus had just been wired with intranet and we had a chat system. This was not a recipe for good concentration. So, like now, my younger self would be warning me to focus on what I want to do, and do it.

Don’t just play around for a bit, keep at it!

Oh, and she’d tell me she really likes taking pictures, keep at that too!
 

Now

Advice to the Future: Photo of the moon, just past full.
“Reach for the moon
because even if you miss you will be among the stars.”
I know I still have focus issues, but without a goal to shoot for, it doesn’t get you anywhere. This quote is another instance of the universe whispering in my ear. I keep seeing it everywhere. And as part of our accountability group we do set goals, but I suspect I like checking things off more than pushing myself to stretch farther. Recently, everything has been about stepping outside my comfort zone, I need to also reach higher and keep taking those steps to get there.

It can be kinda fun to pause on the staircase to look around and see how far you’ve come. But keep going! If you don’t push yourself, you’ll never see how far you can go.

YOUR TURN:What would your younger self say to you now? What do you want to tell your future self?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my accountability group answered, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

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5 Comments

  1. Hi, Kristen!

    My younger self would say “The question isn’t what are you going to do. The question is what aren’t you going to do?” Then my younger self would pause and say “You’re still here?”

    Sorry. I know I’m paraphrasing Ferris Bueller, but he’s still my hero.

  2. I like Jillian’s younger self’s advice. My younger self would tell me to be active. Exercise.

  3. HI Kristen!
    Fun blog and very thought provoking. I would definitely tell my younger self to push harder and focus, dammit!! I would also tell her to avoid dating boys her roomates made up funny nicknames for–ie: Sandbox Boy. He ended up being something a cat would bury in a sand box. LOL More proof that love is blind. 😉

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! Did the nicknames come before or after the meaning? Sounds like something fun to work into a story!

      Now that your younger self has spoken, you can do it!

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