Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write. Finish. Repeat.

It's the most simple writing advice you'll find, and perhaps the most profound. It changed my course as a writer, and it just might change my course in life.

Here's what I mean. A common theme of this blog is momentum. You discover the end of your story by writing continually until it's finished. Work ethic beats inspiration nearly every time. Keep moving forward. I blog about that idea frequently, and to a lesser extent, I practice it in my own writing. Because, "life."

Life gets in the way of everything, including living your life. You name it, the issues are there. Drowning in the massive amounts of hours worked. Fighting a lingering illness, and the illness cheats. Reeling from an unexpected loss. Finally, FINALLY, breaking down and buying that 6th book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy and discovering you were right- it's nowhere near as good as the stuff written by Douglas Adams.

All that can get in the way. If you're not careful, it can get in the way of far more than just writing.

It occurred to me this weekend that life is as much about momentum as writing.

Write, finish, repeat? Yes. Apply the same principles to life and what do you get?

Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write/Live
Repeatedly, Neil Gaiman has told aspiring writers, "You must write." Too many get this part wrong. I've even had people argue with me over this point. The truth is, if you never write, you never write.

And if you don't live, well that's even worse, isn't it? Admittedly, "live" has several connotations. Here's what I mean by it.

Live to the max each day. This is not simply about enjoying life. It means making positive steps in your life. What's important to you in your life? Writing, family, friends, Doctor Who, church, health? Make sure you're making a positive step in one of those areas, minimum, each day. Most days you'll be able to make positive steps in multiple areas. And you know what you're doing? Living.

Finish/Achieve
Neil also said, "You must finish what you write." This, more than anything changed the way I looked at my craft. I finished lots of stories, and I got better with each one. Hmm. In retrospect, I've kind of moved away from finishing everything I start to write. Guess what the end result has been? I haven't written nearly as many stories since I stopped focusing on that. That's a good reminder.

In life, focusing on achieving has the same effect. Take health. I've written about fitness a few times here, because it's one of those areas I had to focus on. Doctor's orders. And you know what I couldn't do? I couldn't do it all at once.

So, I focused on daily achievements. Regular workouts. Reducing sugar intake. Blah, blah, blah. Once I finally accepted the need, I had mini achievements each day. So far they've added up to 40 pounds of weight loss, with adding muscle definition.

Repeat
It's so easy to just give up. This can come after a great accomplishment, or a painful setback. Both circumstances can make a person sit back- the former to enjoy and the latter to wallow.

But you know what? If we focus on moving forward in life, becoming better at what we do and who we are, we'll achieve far more.

Writing's worth it. So is living.

Influences

Eric, a friend of mine from high school, left some thoughtful comments on one of my posts here.

We talked about our mutual love for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I didn't tell him this, but back in high school, I wanted to be the next Douglas Adams.  I've since realized that I'm more likely to become the first Scott Hughey, and I'm fine with that.  Nobody else can be Douglas Adams.  I wouldn't want to anymore anyway, seeing as he's no longer around.  Hope that's not too soon.

Actually, it is.  Obviously, I didn't know him, but boy do I miss a new book coming out from him every several years or so.  Better than prolific, he was good.

But I digress.

Eric said this in the comments, "Someday I'd love to hear what other writers have affected you like that."  I answered, and because the answer took much longer than I expected, I decided to turn it into a blog post.  That way it feels productive.

My influences:

---

First off, I'm not suggesting your wife is wrong, but how does she know I have a 12 year old's mindset?  What have you told her?

And thank your sister for me.  There is no set of books, or at least fiction books, that I've reread more than the five book trilogy.  Also read the spinoff, "Starship Titanic" which wasn't nearly as good.  And Douglas' other fiction books.  Just recently learned there is an authorized sixth book written by an author who I can't bother myself to look up right now.  It's on my reading list.

I still read what's considered more literary fiction, usually when I'm in the mood for a good classic.  Frankly, if it's a good story, I'll read it regardless, but I still tend more towards genre.  You're absolutely correct- there's a ton of bad genre fiction out there.  One of my hopes is that I don't add to the pile of bad.

I've been fortunate to find a good deal of the good.  I've been chewing on your question for a few days, about what other authors have have affected me the same way as Douglas Adams.  The quick, unthoughtful answer is none.  I wouldn't do that to you though.

There's one author that I had the privilege of conversing with through email and online groups sometime back.  Peter David.  He's one of those multi medium writers.  In fact, I first discovered him through comic books.  Yeah.  I said comic books.

One day I discovered he wrote novels too.  For a while, I devoured his Star Trek novels before finding he had plenty of books completely of his own making (ie- not playing in someone else's universe.)  I'd highly recommend "Q-Squared," if you're into Trek at all.  I'd also suggest his "Sir Apropos of Nothing."  It's a fantasy story with a twist.  The Main Character is a side character who supplants himself as the main character.

Peter's writing is almost always funny, thought provoking, and a great ride.  He's not as funny as Douglas Adams, but comparing any writer to that standard is like comparing a fire to the sun.

Lately, more so than his work, I've been influenced by Neil Gaiman.  Neil is great because... he is.  I hope you've heard of him.  He's another writer who has written comics, but he's also written children's books, screenplays, Dr. Who episodes, novels, short stories, poems, and the world's best Christmas card ever.  Seriously.  Look it up.

One great thing about him is he is undefined by genre.  The newest book of his that I've read, "The Ocean At The End of the Lane," could be described as fantasy.  Or science fiction.   Or modern myth.  I've even seen it hailed as literary fiction.  I love stories that are hard to define like that, because you don't know what conventions are being used.

It'd be hard to suggest a starting point.  If you want something hilarious, read "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett.  This comes closest in style, by the way, to a Douglas Adams story.  If you want something deep and thick, try "American Gods."

Weird thing about "American Gods."  Picked it up at a library years ago, and forced my way through about 150 pages before giving up.  Hated it.  Loved nearly everything else by Neil, but not this book.  Recently, I decided to give it a second chance, and I've found it to be marvelous.  Guess I changed.

There's others that have been influential, or at least highly entertaining.  Terry Goodkind.  Matt Forbeck.  Margaret Weis.  Hmm, there's Lee Goldberg, but he's strictly a mystery/detective writer.

And if you just want a good read, I've yet to be disappointed by a book published by Angry Robot.  They're not paying me to say that.  Wish they would though.

Don't Panic!

I started reading Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman recently and it is a huge relief.  More on that later.

First off, how amazing is it to read a book by one of my favorite authors, about one of my favorite authors?  When I discovered this book existed I felt like I'd drunk a pan galactic gargle blaster.

There are few books I've read more times than all five books of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.  Yes, even "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."  These were the first books that made me want to write.  Douglas Adams made it look so easy, which is ironic in the extreme considering all the stories about his struggles with writer's block and deadlines.

Years ago I felt stunned to discover the books were based off of a television series.  I was more stunned to learn that the tv series was based off of a radio series.  This became my secret shame.

How could I, self professed mega fan, not like the tv series?  I just... didn't.  And if the tv series was that bad, how good could the radio show really be?  (For that matter, how big of a fan was I when I didn't know anything about Adams' involvement with Dr. Who, even brief as it was?)

And in the book, I've learned that Douglas Adams' involvement with the television series was limited.  Oh he was involved, but it wasn't quite his vision was it?

Even better.  I decided to listen to the radio broadcasts.  I'm only up to the Vogan ship scene in the first episode so far, but it is brilliant.  It's like the book only not.

Of course I shouldn't have panicked.  

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Don't+Panic/