Never Underestimate the Power of a Pair of Shoes

There’s a popular quote out there that may or may not have originated from the late Marilyn Monroe,

“Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”

Regardless of who said it, or if it was manufactured by a quote wizard, I can’t help but appreciate the element of truth behind it. There’s many instances in stories where a pair of shoes has the power to quite literally change the wearer’s world.

In Cinderella, glass slippers are the key evidence that takes Cinderella from a life of misery to one of love and luxury.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s shoes provide transport for her to get home.

In Like Mike, Calvin finds a pair of Jordans that give him NBA level basketball skills and help him find a family.

In Kinky Boots, a pair of thigh highs saves a shoe factory and brings two communities together.

So how does a powerful pair of shoes fit into my writing story? While I completed NaNoWriMo in November, I didn’t finish my novel. I had grand plans to finish it in December, convinced NaNoWriMo momentum would carry me into finishing the final chapters. But instead of momentum, I fizzled. Burned out. So I took December off. I read. I did nothing. I thought about my novel, but I didn’t put any words to the page until deep into the end of the month when I started to feel refreshed again.

Throughout December and into January, a pair of shoes followed me around the internet. I clicked on the ad several times, drawn in by the cheetah pattern, the sporty look, the allure of a shoe that was a bit out of my comfort zone but not so far out of reach in style. The price tag kept me from making an impulse purchase, but I kept thinking about the shoes, wondering how I could justify bringing them into my wardrobe.

I knew I wanted to do something nice for myself to celebrate finishing my novel (when I eventually finished it). My December goal turned into a goal of finishing the novel by the end of January but by the time mid January hit, I was struggling to find the motivation to work on the hardest pieces of my story. So I decided to dangle a proverbial carrot and see if that would get me rolling in the right direction.

I bought the fancy shoes and kept them unopened in a very visible place in the house so that I would walk by them multiple times a day, an ever present, visual reminder of the goal I wanted to achieve. The shoes I coveted, nestled inside their cardboard box, were only obtainable by getting to the end of my first draft.

The carrot worked. On January 29th, I typed the last few words of the first draft of my very first novel. A bucket list item complete. My NaNoWriMo project finished. A story 8+ years in the making, finally out of my head and into tangible words on digital paper.

Of course, my new shoes didn’t write my novel. Finishing my first draft was an accomplishment of my own, fueled by my determination to tell the story on my heart. But who's to say there wasn't a little bit of magic hidden in those shoes? After all, they did help me conquer the obstacles I was putting in my way of getting my first draft complete. And ultimately, they helped me go from a writer with a story, to a novelist with a first draft, and that sounds pretty dang powerful to me.

One Thing in 2020

Last year I posted about New Year’s resolutions and how, after many years of trial and error, error, error, I realized that resolutions just don’t work for me. Instead, I tried using goal buckets as a way to move towards the things I want to accomplish and the person I want to be. I’m happy to report that this method was effective and successful. Yay! With this method, I had fewer instances of feeling like a failure, and I was able to keep up with my goal buckets for the entirety of 2019! What. A. Win!

I’m going to keep with my goal buckets (same ones) for 2020, given how well the method worked. But I also want to take things up a notch. I had wonderful writing successes and surprises in 2019, growing more as a writer than I could have dreamed. But, like many writers, I have ambitious writing goals and I want to push my stories to shine and sing in the way my heart believes they can. That means, I need more from myself and I need to put more into my writing. But what does that look like as I think about goals for the New Year?

For me, this means finding a goal that’s balanced with 1) specificity that will keep me moving forward, and 2) flexibility so that the goal is sustainable. I also want a goal that will make a dramatic and radical impact on my writing. Sound impossible? I thought so at first, until I asked myself this question:

What is the one thing I could do that would radically impact/change my writing life in 2020?

The answer came to mind quickly: build time into my day to write.

It’s almost too simple, but that’s why it will work. It’s a goal that’s specific enough to keep me moving forward (any time spent writing is time spent growing), but flexible enough to be sustainable (5 minutes or an hour, any time writing is success). It also is the most radical way to impact my writing life because I don’t do this now (outside of NaNoWriMo, that is).

As 2020 kicks off, I’m excited about this goal (another important piece of goal setting) because I know it’s something I can accomplish and I know it’s the one thing that will make the biggest impact in helping me get to where I want to be. As you think about your goals for 2020, I encourage you to ask yourself, what’s the one thing you could do in 2020 that would radically impact and change your life for the better, or help you toward your dreams? Writing or non-writing related, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!