• instructions, book 1

{ Read All Instructions Before Beginning }

~ Don't hurry. This is not a race. 

~ Finish what you start.

~ Never analyze while you are creating. (They are opposite activities of the brain.)

~ Do what you love. (And learn to love what you do.) I don’t love everything I do, but I can connect everything I must do (that I don’t love) to how it serves and enables me to do all the stuff I love.

~ What do you do best? Do you do that most? Do you do it a lot? Do you do it at all? Everyday? Once a week? now and again? What you do best will get worse, the less you do it. When you do your best--at almost anything--it serves and inspires others to do their best stuff. Don’t be selfish--do what you do best, OFTEN.

~ Work on your dream projects. The impossible seems so far away, until we start moving toward it. I have seen so many huge, impossible dreams come closer to fruition by spending even a bit time working on them and in so do, realizing they are actually doable. Every moment I spend working on a dream project, inspires me to work on it more. That leads to its completion. The completed project inspires others and their projects inspire me. I have been inspired by every email and comment I have received from readers of this blog site.
    In the Summer of of the year '4, I spoke at a writers conference. In one of my four morning general sessions I encouraged attendees to “work on your dream project. Because,” I told them, “It’s good for your soul.”
    I defined a dream project, for writers, as a book or series of articles you’d love to write, but do not (yet) have a contract or even a letter of intent from a publisher. But you have a burning desire to be working on this project.
    A few months later, a small cushy package arrived in the mail. I was excited because I buy a lot of books online and treat each new arrival as a gift. (I enjoy buying used books, especially if the seller’s notes say “has previous owner’s notes in the margins.”) But this was not a book I had ordered, at least not one I had purchased. It was a small, 5x7-ish, hard cover book, with ragged-edged pages, and delightful and intriguing cover art. Inside was scrawled a note from it’s author, R. K. Mortenson, thanking me for the inspirational push at the writers’ conference. Upon further examination of the cover art I noticed, on the spine, in tiny type “BOOK 1.” I screamed and began dancing around the room. Immediately I thought of the tales Narnia, Harry Potter, and the remarkable Lemony Snicket books. But this was Landon Snow - And the Auctor’s Riddle! [Click on book title to enter Landon Snow's secret passage way and  click on book cover in my Book List at left, to order books. But not yet.]
    I grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the business card that author, R.K. Mortenson, had placed inside the book.
    “Hello-o-o.”
    “Is this R. K. Mortenson?”
    “Yes.” (He was a bit hesitant) “This is Randy.”
    “Randy, it’s McNair Wilson.”
    “McNair!”
    After introductory enthusiasms I congratulated Randy on the great new book and especially the series. He told me that it had been a short story in a magazine and after my talk he shared it with one of the editors at the conference and, long story short, it is now well under way to becoming a five book series. My friend, R.K. just sent me  BOOK 3 a few weeks ago, with BOOK 4 due in June of the year ‘7.
    Now I can hear you all out there howling, “McNair! I don’t have time to write a whole book, let alone a five book series. I’ve got a day job that sucks the marrow from my bones. It’s all I can do to stay awake for a full episode of House on Tuesday nights. Besides which, I’ve got laundry to do.”

    Me too. Today, in fact. (But I may just go to WalMart and buy a bag of sweat socks and put off my laundry 'till tomorrow.)
    Everybody’s busy. Your are not special in that regard. But hey, my friend Randy (R.K. Mortenson) is a husband, father, and at the time of creating Landon Snow, he was a full time chaplain in the United States Navy. (Now he is the pastor of a church in the MidWest and inventing Landon Snow’s next adventures.)
    I inspired Randy. He created Landon Snow, that inspired me. And now, we will inspire you because his publisher gave me a few copies of the books to give out--and you can have one--FREE. Read on.
    I want you to write a comment to this blog and tell us about a dream project you are currently working at, on a regular basis, or one that you began working on TODAY--after reading this blog post. Tell us what the project is, how much time you spend on it each day  (or at least, each week), and how working on it has inspired you to work on other “stuff” that you have to do (projects, your job, life’s entanglements.)   
    If you are one of the first four people to write a comment (below) about your dream project (25 - 100 words should do) I will contact you by email and send you BOOK1 or 2 of Landon Snow.   
    Get dreamin’. (Re-read instructions, above.)

{ 1,009 }

Comments

[Scott]

Hey boss....not looking for a free book so save it for the real players. You did inspire a blog posting, however, and I used it to try to drive some people your way. It's one of my best...hope it helps.

[Vonda]

Hey McNair!
Well, you know that I was working on my children's book "The Peanut Blues." I am making some contacts with people about looking at it this week! (Now that I finally got through with icky finals)
Also, I am working on a novel called "Snapshots of Grace" about a preacher's kid, who to borrow your book title was "raised in captivity."
Ummm...painting a picture for my Mom and Dad for Christmas....lol I have forgotten how not to be busy. When school got out people said, "What are you going to do with your self for a whole month?" I just smiled.

[2ndRodeo]

I love this site! I have been lurking for a while, and have finally joined, with an official account.
I have been working on an animated feature spec, that was going to be an adaptation of a really old book (and story), that has become more of an original story, very loosely based on the original, and many other (improved) versions that were loosely based on it. The more I work on it, the more autobiographical it becomes - scary, and yet, therapeutic. The original story turned out to be too wordy, so I found a kids version, which helped out a lot. It still didn't have the elements it needed for a feature film (boring), but the subject matter is where my interests are, and it is starting to involve more of my interests, the more I work on it.
I wish I could work on it more, and am trying to make it more of a priority. This site is definitely helping that. I need more creativity in my life.
I have worked in TV too long (doing crew work) and want to be more involved creatively, by writing for TV and features, and get involved in the themed entertainment industry, using my skills there, where there is a more collaborative environment. I'm still figuring out a lot of how that can work out.
(Is "Yes, And..." still going to be coming out?)

[Angela]

You inspired me on my dream project. I've wanted to write since I was young and did so quite often until college. I became an accountant, a CPA to be exact and my dreams became a memory.

Then you came and spoke at my church in Roseville, CA and although I was out of town, a friend gave me a recording and later I heard you at the Christian Writer's Guild Conference.

I started writing daily again and have started a blog in order to write regularly. Sometimes I'm just journaling my thoughts, but it is a start. Thank you.

[Jonathan Gainey]

Dear Mr. McNair,

Thanks for sharing this blog of great enthusiasm and encouragement. I have been studying deeply for a few years not on the subject of the Hebraic culture and life of Jesus. I have come across many interested readers through my blog site. Some have been fearful, most have been encouraging, others simply read and learn. Overall, I have experienced a deeper and more meaningful understanding of living according to the will and ways of the Messiah.

I have actually had one article published in an international publication, which I never dreamed would happen. I desperately want to write a book on all that I'm learning, not only by studying, but by being accepting of the comments, negative and positive, that force me to study deeper and look further into the world of Jesus.

Today, I will begin writing the book and I am very grateful for your encouragement. Wouldn't it be great if all people were encouragers? The kingdom of Heaven would be so heavily upon the world that it would be impossible to even catch a glimpse of hell.

In response to one of your quotes above:
I believe that there should be a banner in outer space that is so big the entire world can read it, and on the banner will be the words:

'Never analyze while you create!'"

Grace and peace,
Johnny

[Jonathan Gainey]

I need to edit my post to say "I have been studying deeply for a few years 'now' on the subject..."

[John Green]

Hi McNair, just found your website, and read this blog posting. Very inspiring kick in the pants to quit making excuses and start chasing dreams (ie. my several gestating novel ideas)
One project I have been faithfully working on every week for the last couple of years is my praise and worship songwriting. I have created a website - www.RecentRainfall.com - where I make the mp3s and chord charts of the songs available for listeners and/or worship leaders to download for free, and have been using a low-budget/no-budget internet strategy to drive traffic back to my site. Result: I have songs being used in various countries, am earning performance royalties through CCLI and have landed one of my songs on a compilation cd put out by Worship Leader magazine, which will go out to 20,000 subscribers.
One of my creativity strategies is to switch gears when I start to get burned out. When not working on music, I write satire for the Wittenburg Door magazine.
I'm looking forward to visiting your site regularly!
John

[Cadellatorya]

Big up respect from London
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[David Ello]

McNair, I read your Instructions Part 2 post and now this. Your blog is so inspiring. Thank you for your practical wisdom and encouragement. I have been working on a new musical production that I have collaborated on with my brother called "Master of Dreams." It's a new musical adaptation of the Joseph story, written for the stage. We did a staged reading of the production at my church back in March, and I was hoping to mount a full production sometime within the year. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet, nor do I know if that will happen this year after all, but the reading provided some good feedback, with which I have begun writing two new scenes. I'm hoping to record a concept album with the reading cast this year. You can hear a clip of the music at www.ellomusic.com by clicking on the "Master of Dreams" link. That's what I've been working on, and your encouragement in a post in the last few months to make time to create helped in that.

I have also been praying about relocating to Chicago for a greater artistic community and climate. We'll see what happens.

God bless you in all of your endeavors and creating.