Tag: Goals

Self-Improvement is sexy!

Posted on by Warren Dalton

I want to be better. I want to achieve better things so to me it just means so much when someone wants the same things. Like trying to learn something new or improving on what you already do well is just so cool. Like putting the time in to achieve something is so much fun.

I have recently been putting my time into learning to cook. I mean I was able to do normal dude stuff like make breakfast but just not good at doing literally anything else. In the past few weeks I’ve learned to bake chicken, sear chicken, and make quesadillas. I know that’s not much yet… I’m working on a budget and literally knew nothing. I think next I’ll make soup.

Back to the previous topic, I just feel like I’m trying to learn to become more well rounded. I may be able to write greeting cards that make people cry but, that’s not gonna save me if I my refridgerator shuts down. I’ve built a few new things of furniture and maybe next for me is learning to sew or some embroidery. I think maybe that could be a usefull skill.

I don’t know what has come over me this last year but, I like that I’ve changed a lot with my mentality and even more with how I view a few things. I want to become a more interesting, more likable person, a warrior for the causes I believe in, and someone who is well read. 2021 has been a year of the new Warren, I hope that reflects here.

I’ve been through a few things and seen some people stagnate in ways that I can’t really stomach. And one person who’s taken to learning new things and improving in ways I can’t help but marvel at. I think maybe I’ll ask people going forward what they did during the pandemic. I know that probably won’t be a fair judgement but I have to say the people who have improved definitely have something else in them. Some have really thrived during this time and while I can’t say the same I’ve tried to improve. I don’t want to look back at this time as the lost years. I don’t want to just stagnate anymore.

Hey readers, what have you done during this pandemic. It can be something small or something big, how have you become a better person? Hang in there, we can see the horizon!

2020

Posted on by Warren Dalton

2020 was interesting. It wasn’t my best year and I had to put a bunch of all the things I wanted on the backburner. I know my book hasn’t come out but, writing was really difficult this year. So I’m just gonna put down some of the good things that have happened to me.

  • I wrote more on here.
  • Got back in touch with a good friend.
  • Made a few decisions that were good to me.
  • Got closer to some people I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years.
  • I found new strength in my own mental health. Deciding if I can work being an essential worker during a pandemic then I can probably make it through some other less impactful things.
  • I went on some dramatic self-emprovement outside and inside.

While it’s not a lot of wins. I think I’ve become a better person and that’s all I think I could have asked for this year. Thank you for following me this far and I hope I can keep giving you reasons to check out my site. I’ve got a few more posts coming out the rest of this week and I want to start 2021 with a bang.

Self-care

Posted on by Warren Dalton

I got my hair done on Tuesday and it feels great. You know that feeling where  you don’t feel like yourself unless you’rein your favorite sweatshirt or jeans or everything just isn’t right until your make up is done? Well that’s me. I love my braids. When I picture myself as a successful person/writer it’s with braids. Maybe it’s weird but, it just makes me feel at home in my own skin. For me having them in is self care.

I have spent a lot of time this year on taking care of myself. Trying to lose a bit of weight, incorporating a skincare routine and, even bought a watch for trying to work through the ADHD time slippage. I want to come out better from this terrible year.

Self-care is so important. I know myself and without it I kind of just subsist in the world. The depression hits and I just spend all day playing games or something just to try to relax. I’m not saying videogames aren’t effective self-care but, I think for me and just the types of games I play there just isn’t always that same sense of accomplishment I get from just making sure I did two face masks this week. I’ve realized besides writing it kind of just makes me feel like I got something done and I am overall better for the ten minutes I took to do it.

I began throwing out a bunch of the old mess in my room leftover from a previous person and donated some clothes too. It’s odd sometimes what throwing a bag of trash out will do for your mind. ( I should probably clean up more often. It’s not gonna happen but, I probably should.) I have been feeling a little freer in this past week and I’m hoping I can keep up the momentum. Keep changing enough small things to make me a stronger more well-rounded person. To me, my self-care is trying to improve minuscule things over and over again to eventually create a chain reaction of positive change.

Influences

Posted on by Warren Dalton

So I haven’t reached my goal and it’s kind of eating me up inside. I need to get better at not only self-motivation but time management. I’ve already talked about having issues with Balance. And honestly, it’s not something I’ve ever done very well. I’m trying to get a lot better at it. I’ve been writing as an author now for two years and I still feel like I’m just getting better and writing and hopefully that leads to becoming better at the business.

Now that’s out of the way I want to talk a bit more about me. I know big surprise but, I think once you understand who I am as a person, my writing and characters make a lot more sense.  Maybe you if you have similar problems and issues then you can connect with them and me.

I didn’t always want to be an author at least not for the right reasons. I’ve always wanted to tell stories but I remember ardently wanting to be a Power Ranger. (That didn’t happen, just for the record.)  I have told stories since I was kid taking things I’d seen on tv and movies and playing games with all that stuff fused together. I’ll admit it, I LARP’d I LARP’d hard as a kid and probably past when it was socially acceptable. I played these games much longer than I should have but, I loved them more than video games and even books. I won’t name any of my co-conspirators because they more or less lead productive lives and I’d hate to ruin that with my need to say way too much.

I realized after acting, wanting to sing, and dance, it was all about telling a story. I’ve never wanted anything else as long as I’ve lived. I want to make a living doing this that seems like a pipe dream now but I’m going to keep trying and I’ll never give up.

Anyway, for me some of my biggest inspirations are anime. When I was a kid it was Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon, and Shinzo. I never missed an episode. It was all about big set pieces, larger than life fights, and they looked like nothing I’d ever seen before. There was always something interesting going on with the look, the sound, or just where the inspiration came from. It was either something so alien I’d never come across anything like or It was mixing and matching them in ways I hadn’t thought of.

I drank it all in. I soaked it up like a sponge. I literally couldn’t get enough of the stuff. I became someone not just interested in the product but the culture. History, martial arts, myths and legends, and even their food. I liked it so much because it seemed like they looked at the world in a completely different way. Even today, JRPGs are kind of my favorites.

I guess with this post I just wanted to give an update and a little more insight into the man behind the keys. The sequel is going well I’ve just got a few more things I’m not happy with yet before I begin editing.

2017 Plans!!

Posted on by Warren Dalton

This is probably really late considering we’re at least a week into the new year but I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. It galls me that I didn’t have anything finished in 2016. I can’t let this year end the same. So I’m giving myself real approachable goals this time around.

 

  • Finish writing Golden Wings by the end of (Jan 2017)
  • Have Golden Wings edited and out by the end of (June 2017)
  • Finish outline for Shinigami 03 by the end of (July 2017)
  • Have Shinigami 03 written by the end of (Dec 2017)
  • Make time to work on other books in The Aftermath Collection

I have taken steps to ensure what has happened to me last year will not effect this year. I’ve been working hard to increase my productivity and making sure I write more every day than I was ever doing the past two years. I’m really going to put in the time to make sure I do what I’m setting out to do.

Goals (At least the ones that don’t have to do with writing.)

Posted on by Warren Dalton

My friend has been really going through it this past couple of months and for the longest time, I didn’t know how to help her. I won’t really talk about what happened because even though she might not care, I’d rather keep her privacy. I gave advice and it didn’t work. I was a shoulder to cry on that they didn’t take. For everything I tried to do nothing seemed to work. I hated the idea that I might have to watch all of this come to a head and not be able to stop it. The whole thing vexed me.

I knew it wasn’t about me. I knew that what she was experiencing had absolutely nothing to do with me but I wanted to be there for her like she had been for me. Without meaning to she dug me out of a hole I was in due to my depression. It was the only reason I really got back on board with my writing and the only reason. I got back involved with the blog. So her friendship, needless to say, is very important to me.

This is the first time I’ve ever been actually able to help her in any meaningful way. And though I’ve been on call for the past couple of days (gently woken up by text notifications) I haven’t been happier. More well rested maybe but not happier. Being able to be there for a friend really makes me feel fulfilled in a way. I’m sure that says something about me and my overall psychological state, in a psychology textbook somewhere.

Needless to say, I wouldn’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else. I just think when this is all over we’ll be closer. I hope that I can pull her out of the same hole she did me and we both can move on.

This year.

Posted on by Warren Dalton

I have to say I am angry with myself. I haven’t finished any new work. That’s not to say I’m not writing just that it’s going slower than I expected. I was hoping that I’d get so much faster, that suddenly after finishing my first book I’d unlock the secret that let other people churn books out in months. Am I not fast enough? Am I not doing enough? Short answer… yes.

I am not doing what I am supposed to be doing. The question is how do I change that? How do I devote myself more? Do I take on fewer hours at work? Do I hang out less? I already have a problem with balance. Will this just tip me over the edge?

The one thing I have to say that I have become a better writer and It’s reflected in my work. I just need to figure out how to manage my time better and write more recklessly.  The first one has always been a problem for me. I just need to find a new normal. I want so badly to get off the ground. Get my work out there. I want as many people to fall in love with my characters like I have.