What happens when you don’t publish that great idea?

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Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

“Because of the self-confidence with which he had spoken, no one could tell whether what he said was very clever or very stupid.”― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Elisa’s Thought for the Week

Way back in 2017, I was talking to someone about comfort zones, and how we are always encouraged to push ourselves out of them.

It started me thinking, because that’s an incredibly silly statement for many.

If you’ve lived through any period of pain or uncertainty, falling into a comfort zone is a wonderfully welcome respite.

Sure, we probably shouldn’t stay in that comfort zone forever, but I didn’t agree with this idea that we need to constantly be spurring ourselves forward in misguided attempts to make sure we are always challenged.

Perhaps we don’t need to be challenged every second of every day of every era of our lives — professionally, personally, or otherwise.

I began collecting and writing down my thoughts, a little article that would explore the potential movements, as I saw them.

Complacent <--> Comfortable <--> Content

We often find ourselves seeking out or landing in a comfortable space.
​A comfort zone, if you want to call it that.

Life is hard yo, and adulting is no joke.

When we urge people against a comfort zone, it is because they linger too long. It is no longer a comfortable place…it is a tip and a fall into complacency.

We have turned apathetic, and aren’t interested in doing anything to move from our little hovel.

But there’s another way you can move out of a comfort zone (that isn’t completely leaving the comfort zone to find another comfort zone.)

You can find a comfort zone where you are simply and purely content.

It was this zone that I was striving to find (spoiler alert, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for…) and share with others.

What does this have to do with a story I’m embarrassed to share?

Fast-forward five years, and I’m reading the debut release of my friend Jamie Varon’s book Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World.

I felt this deep dark pit plummet to the bottom of my stomach.

It was so many of the points I had thought, way back in 2017. Right down to where people live and their relationships/friendships/family and what they did for work and fun and fulfillment.

It is a brilliantly longer version of the essay I thought to write and publish … but never did.

That’s the funny thing about ideas and consuming information and percolating it all.

For writers who want to improve their craft, this is an important practice to integrate into your writing process.

But if you linger too long at it, and never create or publish, you’ll feel like you have missed your chance.

The moment may even pass you by, all because you went from a zone of comfort and wonder to a zone of complacency and forgotten ambitions.

(Of course you could step WAY OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE to write and publish it with your own observations and takes, but that feels downright terrifying, now doesn’t it?!)

In Other Reading This Week …

Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?

• Wanna electrocute some college students? Or maybe learn how that has to do with writing interesting essay intros? Rosie Campbell dives into this, and five other ways to write an intro that isn’t boring AF on Beam Content.
• How do academics and archaeologists (and Venn Diagram solution Indiana Jones) figure out what ancient writing languages say? This piece from Owen Jarus on Live Science is a deep dig into writing found from 2300 B.C. and 1800 B.C. (or is it?!)
• Always wanted to start a book club, but struggled to figure out what you’d talk about? Sarah Jinee Park has suggestions for 35 questions to get book club discussion going on Reader’s Digest.
• This article might feel uncomfortable, but that’s why you need to read it, and learn more about the rot at the center of the publishing and reading world, from Elaine Castillo on Lit Hub.
• How do we even begin to find momentum, let alone claim momentum, after a crisis? Coachdotme CEO Kendra Kinnison shares some of the things she did to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey destroyed massive swathes of her personal and professional existence.

Weekly Writing Tip …

A quick chance to learn from the masters.

“The only way to efficiently battle evil is to copy enough to know how to counter each argument, yet not enough to believe all the bullshit.” ― Will Advise, Nothing is here…

Untranslatable …

Exquisite words from other languages.

Sgrìob [s̪kɾʲiːp or skree-UP] (n.) From the Scottish Gaelic, translations attempt to define this as a scrape or scratch. But many speakers will explain it as the twitch of anticipation on your top lip before you sip a dram of whisky (or, superstitiously, before a kiss from a favorite)

This Week’s Writing Prompt …

We often do our thinking when we write.

Do you have an essay or book or poem that you've been sitting on for far too long. Why didn't you end up finishing it and publishing it? What can you do now to bring that beauty out into the light of day.

For the Upcoming Week …

Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right!

Does this mean I need to bedazzle some body parts?

Till next time!

PS - Remember, I’m reviewing applications today for our November Test Group on The Writer’s Journal, so get that filled out by 5PM EST if you want to be considered!