Make It Happen

I haven’t posted since June 19 and several of you have noticed. In the past couple weeks alone I have had a handful of people ask me what in the world was going on with my blogging and whether or not I had given it up. Well, I am here to assure you all that while I have not been writing my blog each week as intended, I have still been hard at work writing nonetheless.

Since the first week of June I have been working nonstop on writing my long-delayed book about my brother. This is the third time I have sat down to write his story – or stories – and I believe this time will be my charm.

I started this book back in 2014 when I first moved out to California, but then after an influx of positive energy in early 2016 in the form of a new job, an engagement, and a handwritten letter from the most important person to ever walk our Earth, Britney Spears, I scrapped everything I had written over those two years and started anew. I then spent three years writing the second incarnation of his story only to lose it all around April Fool’s Day of this year (see Setback) thus forcing myself to go for a third strike.

This time is different though. As of this writing I have completed nine of what will eventually be fifteen stories and am approaching the finish line on the tenth. This puts me past 60% completion. Despite two previous attempts at this I have never managed to come as far as I am now and obviously I couldn’t be happier.

After my computer crashed in April I realized that it was time to shit or get off the pot because this book sure as Hell was never going to write itself. I listened to the advice of several friends and purchased the Scrivener writing software and haven’t looked back since. I have spent nearly every single day lit hour of this summer writing when I wasn’t working and the progress has been real. If you know my brother at all or have ever heard me talk about him you know his story is one worth telling as there is quite literally never a dull moment with him. It is my firm belief that I am sitting on literary gold here and through a multitude of interviews with him I have a true treasure chest of stories that will make my mother want to pull her hair out that I am incredibly eager to share with the world.

Around the time I started pouring myself into my writing I found great strength in one of the most iconic yet underrated artists of all time, Mariah Carey. Her 1992 smash hit, Make It Happen, has more or less become my anthem for this writing session. It’s lyrics of empowerment and owning your destiny really spoke to me when it came on my Spotify Mariah Carey channel and I have had it on repeat now for nearly three months. I’ll admit that this was never one of my Mariah go-to’s, but that morning in the shower when it was blasting from my phone I knew that Mariah was telling me to MAKE! IT! HAPPEN!

“If you believe in yourself enough and know what you want you’re gonna Make It Happen. MAKE IT HAPPEN!” – Mariah Carey

I’ll never forget that moment of awakening and could not be more thankful for Mariah. Honestly, Thank God I Found Her because she has made me Obsessed again with my writing. She came to me at the perfect time and because of her belief in me I have not given up on this dream. I guess you could call me a Dreamlover because I have always loved writing and believed it is my Forever. Mariah helped me realize that Love Takes Time, but there can be miracles When You Believe and most definitely I Still Believe. There have been further Side Effects like the Great Cutesville Flood that befell our city on Monday, August 12. We are still very much recovering from the aftermath of those waters. Our house has to get new flooring downstairs and my car got a small amount of water in it, but just like Mariah, we will make it Through The Rain. The flood resulted in a weeklong loss of writing, but I Can’t Let Go of this dream, no matter what obstacles come my way because this is no Fantasy. The time for me to be my own Hero is now and I will give My All to Make It Happen.

My self-imposed deadline to finish my book is Saturday, October 5 and I feel extremely confident I will Make It Happen. As always, thank you all for reading and hope everyone has been having THE BEST summer of their lives! PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment below and be sure to include your favorite Mariah Carey song! I know it can be difficult choosing just one because she has so many incredible jams (has she ever made a bad song? Short answer: NO!) but I’d love to hear which of her anthems empowers you to be your best! Till next time…