Marcus Lopés

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relentless writer

No Ordinary Life: Living in the Discomfort Zone

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discomfort zone

It’s not a secret anymore. I’m registered for the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which will take place on Sunday, 15 October 2023. Running the marathon wasn’t on this year’s goals list. The decision to participate in the race came after I realized I was willing to be ordinary—too scared to take a risk, too scared of failure. But I’ve never liked being ordinary or doing ordinary things. Always looking to grow, to challenge myself in some way, it was time to move back into my discomfort zone. [Read more…] about No Ordinary Life: Living in the Discomfort Zone

It Takes a Village

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On the surface, a writer’s life may look ‘lonely.’ Because we spend a lot of time alone writing our stories and bringing the characters to life. It is in those quiet times—late at night, early in the morning, or in the middle of the day—when we go into hiding. We have that special place, a room of our own, to create. And we do it until we’ve taken the manuscript as far as we can on our own, knowing then that it’s time for fresh eyes, and we ship it off to our editor. Yes, writing can be lonely, but writing and publishing a book takes a village. [Read more…] about It Takes a Village

Cultivate Commitment to Your Dreams

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I was in my late-teens/early-twenties when I realized I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t know, then, what it meant to be a writer. And when I thought about writing, and what a writing life looked like, I immediately thought about Stephen King, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, and Iris Murdoch (among others). These writers defined writing for me because they were successful and had carved out a writing life for themselves. I was, however, still young and naïve, and I didn’t understand what had allowed them to reach the pinnacle of their careers: commitment. [Read more…] about Cultivate Commitment to Your Dreams

What Will You Sacrifice for Your Dreams?

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sacrifice dreams

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. I keep looking at the clock, and the calendar, with now just 85 days left until my fiftieth birthday. I don’t mind getting older. And I’m not freaking out about turning fifty, either. A lot of people tell me it’s a big deal, and keep asking me how I plan to celebrate it. And then they’re left speechless when I tell them I have no plans. Because my focus is on today, this moment, and what I need to do to make my dreams come true.

Looking Back to Go Forward

Since the beginning of the year and even a little before that, I’ve been trying to clear away the clutter in my life to make more space for the things that matter. Time is limited and precious, so I’m a lot more conscious about how I spend it. Throughout my life, I’d done a decent job at writing—and being, in general, creative—around a day job. But with my current one, something has always been off that I haven’t been able to pinpoint. It’s just been, or feels, harder to get other things done. And when I took a closer look at how I was spending my time away from work, that was when I understood I was caught in a pattern that, if allowed to continue, would defeat me and my dreams. [Read more…] about What Will You Sacrifice for Your Dreams?

Defining Productivity

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On Saturday, 6 May 2023 (the day I sat down to finish writing this blog post), I started the day with three intentions. First, finish rewriting the chapter of a novella I started earlier in the week. Second, edit and schedule this blog post. And third, run at least five kilometres. And at the end of the day, I’d have to ask myself: “Did I accomplish what I set out to do?” The answer, which I’ll circle back to later, offers a glimpse into how I have come to define productivity.

Looking Back

When I started writing, I was always starting something—a short story, a poem, a novel—but struggled to finish anything. With lots of ideas popping into my head, I always ended up chasing the newest idea. And that meant I left a lot of thing started but unfinished. When it came to productivity, my first lesson learned was to build writing into my daily routine. That allowed me to finish something. Suddenly, the first draft of whatever I was working on was done. It might have been crap, but it was done. And as time went on, I finished more writing projects. What a great combination: writing daily and finishing things. Still, I didn’t feel productive. Writing around a full-time job and other commitments, I was constantly chastising myself for not doing more. All because I was defining productivity on someone else’s terms. [Read more…] about Defining Productivity