It’s Like Dowsing for Accountability!

(In other words, I expect this to have as good of a chance for success.)

As a writer, both my biggest motivator (and potentially biggest fear) is accountability.  (I suppose that should just say “As me…”, but this is about writing, so bear with me.)  When I’m writing, it really helps to always have someone on my ass… someone always asking about my progress.  It makes it significantly less “naggy” if it feels like the person checking up on me genuinely wants to see me succeed, but I can’t expect my mom to do every little thing I think of, now can I?

As a person (Here’s where the example gets more generalized.), my biggest fear is over-accountability to the wrong person/entity.  That was one of the things that made my time at “The Film School Which Shall Not Be Named” so intolerable.  I knew it was a waste of time because of the lousy industry cred they have, so the only real motivating factors were 1) money, and 2) maybe just having a few things, for me, under my belt by the time I left.

That’s where the Big Bad of my life rears his ugly influence.  If anything I can do could affect me for the significantly better, this evil motivation toward nothing, procrastination, and time-wasting will attempt to side-track it (Which makes me think in the back of my head – “I never really want to do anything that will personally save me or propel me toward my greatest dreams!” – which isn’t true anywhere but in my current practice, as my Big Bad tends to win a lot of mental wars with me.).

Now, this really isn’t the first time I’ve addressed this issue.  Hell, it’s not even the first time I’ve mentioned it here on my blog.  And, it’s also not the first time I’ve thought that group accountability would be the panacea.

Unfortunately, whether you’re asking your mom to check up on you, posting ads for writing groups on Craiglist, or even *sigh* asking your meager blog following to goad you, the weak link is – once again – everyone else.  I say that, of course, very tongue-in-cheek and really as an exasperated exhalation to all the times I’ve asked for input from my “friends” over the years, only to be quickly forgotten.  I realize that the true weakness is merely my not writing… that if I were to oh, I don’t know, do something for a change, that I would eventually prosper in a fulfilling way. You can’t just sit around and wait for people to throw work at you.  That only works for Nathan Fillion.  (And I am not Nathan Fillion!)

So, here it is… my last plea for help.  I need someone to comment, email, something me every day until I get this book done.  I swear to fuck that this thing is going to be somewhere between “The Next Harry Potter” and “The Next Lord of the Rings”.  If you’ve seen me just mucking about on this blog, you know that I at least top Rowling’s writing and approach Tolkien’s talent (if only I applied myself).  Together, we can make tons of jobs and money for people in the publishing and movie-making industries (and maybe a respectable amount for myself in the process).

And you know what?  For anyone that (faithfully!) helps me get this first (completed) book of mine off the ground, I will send $1,000 of every $100,000 I make from it.  Which, when you consider that Rowling now has a net worth of $1 Billion, would make you a millionaire at least, just for being supportive.  If you can’t agree that that’s an awesome deal, then you’re just an asshole.

I’m done here.  Help me out, folks!