In today’s A to Z Challenge post we tackle the letter V and for that I chose variety over victory though both are so important. With variety I find I do feel victorious more often. Give me a challenge and I’ll tackle it. While it may not be my best work every time it lets me dabble in fields I don’t generally gravitate to. Blood Day the Short Story is, once again, a prime example as I tried to write a 4000 word short story for young adults with a lot of obstacles in my way. I could have passed, admitting that it wasn’t my forte or genre of choice and, with the looming deadline, that I wouldn’t have time but I dove in, excited to try my hand at something to get my imagination running. And, though you likely know this part already – it won and was so well loved by its readers they demanded more!
I’ve done some copy writing which was raved about by my employer, written short stories and poems and do freelancing people are continually commenting on, in a good way! I have also hosted workshops and various readings, spicing things up along the way to keep my writing career interesting.
A lot of the marketing videos I’ve watched, not specific to writing necessarily, repeat that someone should find the one thing they excel at and to continue doing that. For writers it would be to pick one genre and put out multiple books for that single audience but if you know me at all you know that I’ve tried something in a lot of different fields and I love it, so are many readers!
Variety helps all of us from getting bored and losing interest, it also helps us determine our best fit and realize what we don’t like or aren’t so good at. Imagine eating the same food for every meal the rest of your life – thankfully most of us don’t have to!
Let me know what you’ve tried today that is different from the usual.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland
author of Sending You Sammy, Cherish Your Treasures, Arm Farm and more!