I'm going to do this a liiiittle differently. I was inspired by Katie to share some of my own goals for the end of the year. So as I'm giving updates of things that have already taken place, I'll share some goals and hopes for the remainder of the year.

OH HEY! That'll be my "thing" for this quarter wrap-up! I'll give goals for each topic in place of poems for first quarter and mottos for second.  :D

and so hannah still somehow manages to remain original

One thing about this show is that it models a lot of healthy relationships. None of them are perfect, of course, but Barry has a lot of people he can go to. He has a lot of people that care about him, and they care about him enough to call him out when he's made a mistake.

At the beginning of season two, Barry tries to isolate himself because he feels responsible for some severe things from season one. And his friends honor his wishes and keep away ... for a while. But they soon realize he's not going to forgive himself, so they need to be there for him. Even if it means doing what he doesn't necessarily want.


That's another big one. Barry takes the full responsibility of everything that happens that's connected to him. People die? It's his fault. A building is destroyed? All his doing. And he's constantly beating himself up about if only I was better and if only I was faster then, of course, none of this would have happened.


Barry is really good about sharing stuff with those who he loves and those who love him. When he gets down or feels ultra responsible, he tries to shoulder it all on himself. But that never lasts very long before he's going to Joe or Iris or Wells, asking for advice.

One of the devil's favorite tactics is to isolate you. He wants to make you feel alone and vulnerable. And if you don't hold onto your friends, if you don't reach out and open yourself up to them, his attack will succeed.

Don't let that be the case.


Barry is far from perfect. He makes a lot of mistakes, some of which result in very serious consequences. But there's a turning point in the series when he finally realizes, yes, I messed up. Yes, this was my fault. Yes, I could have done better. But I didn't. I messed things up this time, and there's nothing I can do about it. But I can change the future. I can put all my energy from being upset about this to making an effort towards that never happening again. Then I'll actually make a difference.

I don't know about you guys, but that really hit home with me. Watching him let go of the guilt ... he wasn't blameless, but he was able to let the guilt go. He was able to free himself from that heavy burden, with the help of his friends.

We mess up. We make mistakes. But Jesus has given us the chance to let go of all of that. We can move on. We can move forward.

We just have to let go.


I know this isn't really writing related, but I hope you enjoyed this post all the same! If you want something that is writing related and written by yours truly, go check out my guest post on the lovely Savannah's blog! You should totally check out all she's got going on over there. It's awesome!

Have you ever watched The Flash? What do you think of Barry Allen, and what have you learned from him? Are there any other characters in fiction that you've deeply connected with?

I don't know about you, but I used to feel a little guilty when I got a new idea. Especially if it was a super good one.

I guess I felt like I was "cheating" on my WIP? I don't really know. But I didn't want to give it too much love and attention because can't stop working on the WIP! 

But is that really the best approach?

If you've got this new idea, and you're getting tons of the pieces to the story ... if you just shove it all away so you don't forsake your WIP, what happens later? What happens when that WIP is done, and it's time to move on to a new story?

I've opened documents in my idea folder many times and found just one sentence. It seemed brilliant at the time, but since I only took the time to write down one sentence, I often completely forget where I was going with the idea.

So it's useless to me.

I've settled into a groove of things now, and it works fairly well for me. So allow me to share my method (which I've referred to several times) with you all.

I have a file on my computer. It's called, "She's an Author". There are currently 51 files labeled "Idea" in it. I like to number my ideas so I can look back later and see which ones I got first. (That's how I know I got the idea for my current WIP before my last WIP.)

I started doing something recently, too. I have "Character" files. If I get an idea for a really cool charrie but they have no story (that doesn't happen for me very often, but it does sometimes) I'll just give them their own file. (I only have 12 of those types of files right now)

Now, most of those 51 ideas are just a couple sentences long. I thought they were cool in the moment, and so I ran to my computer to write them down.

But there are few, 5-6ish, that tug at me often. Idea 5, 21, and 35 are my top three ideas. These are files that I open maybe once or twice a month to make notes in. These are ideas I think about.

These are ideas that are dangerous.

They tempt me to flutter away from my WIP. They're so cool and fun and new and exciting.

But you know what? Allowing myself to visit those idea folders, to make a map of the world and to write a character's backstory and to write down the vague plotline ... that keeps me going. It helps me write my current WIP when I don't feel like writing because I have more stories to tell. And that's exciting. I want to move on. (I reallyreallyreally want to write idea 35. It's this giant fairytale/epic poem mashup and it's a chaotic mess but IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CHAOTIC MESS AND I WANT TO WRITE IT NOW.)

It's tempting to shove that away, because UGH I JUST WANT TO WRITE IT. But if I shoved away all the ideas, I wouldn't have anything to look forward to.

So the conclusion? You don't have to organize ideas like I do. (I also keep a journal for various story ideas, since I like to handwrite stuff.) But I do encourage that you document your ideas somewhere, and you let yourself visit them every now and then. That will keep you excited for them, and keep you motivated to edit that WIP so you can move on to something new.

How do you organize your ideas? Do you have any stories you're dying to write?

Now don't get me wrong. I'm an ENFP. Emphasis on the P. If you don't understand Myers Briggs, let's just say that letter "P" means I am not fond of making detailed plans and schedules. I feel more confined by them than helped.

But lately, with so much to do, I've needed a list. I've needed a blow by blow of all the things I need to get done, becuase if I don't make that blow by blow, if I don't make a list of at least one thing to do on a given day, I won't do anything at all.

And then boom. A day wasted.

Planning out a day, or a week, or a month, is so benficial because it helps you remember what all you need to do.

But it also has other perks. Take blogging for example. Blogging is something I didn't use to plan. I used to just whip out a post every Thursday/Friday night and put it up. I'd ponder it at the beginning of the week, but that was just it. Pondering. I'd toy with it.

Lately, though, I've been a bit more behind. I don't usually write posts until Midnight the night before. Which is totally not what I'm doing right now why would you ask that.

Becuase, like I talked about last week, sometimes inspiration doesn't strike. Sometimes I don't get a post idea during the week, and I'm left with zilp. I have nothing to post about, and I'm left spewing incoherent brain thoughts that I've likely already said in one form or another.

But when you plan, when you think things through, you don't have that problem. Instead, you can just look at a list of post titles and say, "Today I am blogging about this." And then that's that. You write the post for the topic you have. You're not left, helpless and clueless. You have a game plan.

Some might say that squashes all the fun. But here's my little secret.

A plan is not something you have to follow. It's just a fallback for when you don't have any other ideas.

This applies both to planning things like blog posts and book chapters, and it applies to making lists of those little things. If you end up getting time on a given day and you don't know what you're supposed to do, that list can serve as a fallback. You can find something there.


So there you have it. The spontaneous ENFP's method of planning for efficiency. I hope you enjoyed this and got some ideas from it!

I want to point you all in the direction of Scattered Scribbings because Savannah is hosting a giveaway AND  a writing contest in a month long celebration of her blogoversary which is just SO EPIC. Go join the fun!

Now tell me: are you a planner? What's your Myers Briggs type?