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This feels like the time to get on some people’s cases. On some writers’ cases.

Have you done it yet? Have you finished your first novel? Have you even started it?

You said you were going to do it. Remember? You even set up the day to begin: When the last child started school. Or finished school. Or went off to college.

When you saved at least $10,000. When you got your degree. When you got married. When you got divorced. When you finished that project at work, the one at the house, or the one involving poisonous plants and yard gnomes for your mother’s best friend.

If you’re sitting on your hands, sitting on the fence, or sitting on a goldmine, but you’re not writing, then get to it.

Maybe your friends and family aren’t encouraging you anymore. Maybe they’ve got their own issues and need encouragement from you. That’s fine; everyone’s got a life with tons of issues to deal with. But if you’re not being prodded to write, to jump into your dream of completing a novel, then let me be that prod.

Do it. Start your novel. Finish your novel. Submit your novel.

Wherever you are on the journey, take that next step. No excuses. No hesitation. No backing down.

Write the novel. You’re the only one who can. If you don’t write it—if you don’t give life to those characters in your mind, to that dilemma that you’ve forever dreamed of exploring, to that fictional world filled with adventure or monsters or fantasy—readers will never discover those people and places and adventures. There’ll be civilizations—entire worlds—lost forever, events shrouded in black mists that never lift for the intrepid explorer. Your insights, the exquisite revelations you intended to put in your protagonist’s mouth, will never be uttered. Never examined. Never held up as guideposts for the next generation.

If you don’t write your story, it will never be written.

__________________

No one can tell the story you can tell. No one knows it. No other human can feel the emotions swirling around your characters or feel emotion on behalf of those characters unless you put those characters on the page.

Do you really intend to deprive the rest of us of the stories you have to tell? Are you intentionally keeping us from the tears we should be crying or the laughs we could be enjoying or the outrages we need to denounce?

Am I nagging you enough yet? Have I convinced you that if you’re a storyteller who’s not telling stories, then the rest of us are deprived?

I know you don’t need me to force you to write; I can’t do it and wouldn’t want to. But I do want to tell you that you can start that novel you’ve been promising to start. Maybe it’s been a year since you said you’d do it. Maybe it’s been nearly ten. Maybe you made a promise to yourself thirty years ago. If so, what are you waiting for? A promise to yourself is a valid promise. Why not fulfill this one? Why not start, and finish, your novel?

There’s lots of help and encouragement available for the first-time novel writer. Novelists might write alone, but we like others to share the struggle; you’ll have plenty of support from other writers at every stage of the process. If you need gentle encouragement or a true butt-kicking, join a writing group and make yourself accountable to them. But don’t only join a group–that doesn’t raise the word count. You actually have to start writing.

If you’re looking for other goads, try NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, which comes every November. Challenge yourself to write 50,000 words of your novel. No, you won’t be writing perfection, but you will be writing. And you can finally start. Or finally finish. Or finally get off the danged fence and into the fray.

I challenge you—get writing.

I encourage you—you can do it.

I dare you—what have you got to lose?

If you can’t NaNo, which requires you to write 1,600-some words per day for 30 days, set your own goals. Can you write 300 words a day? How about 1,000 words per week? A thousand a week is doable. If you have any facility for stringing words together, you can easily write 1,000 words per week. Even if you write a few of them while you’re at lunch or waiting in the carpool line or in the bathtub, you can do this.

Or instead of a word count, give yourself a time goal. Commit to half an hour a day, five days a week. That’s achievable for most of us. Cut out some TV or Internet time.

Or commit to writing a scene. Pick an exciting scene you’ve dreamed of writing and then have at it. Write the sucker. No editing. No changing words or tone or characters. Just get it down. And then write another scene. And then write one more.

See how it feels. See what you can do with your words. Writing just a few scenes may give you a taste for writing that you’ll never be able to give up.

Try an accountability partner, one you promise to keep apprised of your progress. Sometimes just telling another person that we have a goal is enough to keep us on track.

Have I encouraged you, convinced you, nagged you enough yet? I hope so. After all, if you’re reading this and you haven’t yet begun your novel, something’s holding you back. But if you intend to write one, now may be the perfect time to start.

If you’re waiting for your kids to get through school or for you and your spouse to be wealthy before you start, if you’re waiting for that new computer or the new job or the new spouse, you might have reasons to not begin. Or you may be looking for reasons not to start. After all, if you don’t write a novel, that novel can’t be judged.

Fear of failure is real. So is fear of success. But don’t let fear keep you from writing. Maybe you won’t ever be able to submit your manuscripts; you wouldn’t be the first to not submit them. But if stories and characters push and pull at you, demanding to be given a voice, why not give them that voice? Write their stories. Make them real.

Give yourself the satisfaction of writing, of crafting something creative. Put your talents to work, even if you’re the only one to benefit from your writing.

Only you will know if your reasons to delay are legitimate or if they’re excuses. But it’s likely that you’ll always have convincing reasons to not start and only a few nebulous reasons to start. Let me tip the scales in favor of you starting your novel—

You’ll get a great rush of satisfaction for having started. You’ll have taken that huge first step that you’d feared and anticipated and dreaded and hungered for. One of the toughest steps will be behind you. And this will make you feel great.

You might find that writing energizes you. It may bring you joy, joy that bleeds over into other areas of your life.

You’ll get the voices out of your head and into a story, where they belong.

You’ll find personal satisfaction at tackling a tough endeavor.

You’ll be well on your way to achieving your dreams.

__________________

No one wants to be defeated by something he failed to do. You won’t want regrets haunting you when you’re 80 or so, won’t want to face frustration and dismay because you didn’t try the one challenge that always gnawed at you. Instead, go for it.

Yes, it’s hard. And yes, you’re pretty much on your own. But the good news is that you control what goes into your story. When you write, you get to make all the decisions. Big or small, they’re all yours. And while an agent or editor may later suggest changes, while you’re writing, you answer to no one else.

The bad news is that your eyes will be opened to your personal work ethic and you might not like what you see—can you see a job through when there’s no one there to push you? Can you work, day in and day out, year in and year out, supervising yourself when the rewards, at least until you publish, are far from the accepted rewards the rest of the world gets for working?

After all, for months or years your only reward will be an increasing pile of pages and satisfaction at having solved thorny story issues. Will it be enough that your only payment during a tough spell is the discovery of a way to get your antagonist home from a murder at the beach—bearing no evidence of murder or beach—and provide a solid alibi for her, all before the police detective comes calling?

While we’re writing, the satisfaction is in the writing, in the power of words and in their beauty and in the creation of something new. I can guarantee satisfaction will be there; I can’t guarantee it will be enough for you, especially if you have to pass up other activities in order to write.

But if you’re a writer and you know it, know it in the deep places, then you need to write. If you want to be a novelist, you’ve got to write a novel. There’s no shortcut for this one. And there’s no reason to not start.

You don’t need to know all the rules, though you do need to know a lot.

You don’t have to have all your research finished, though you could begin it.

You don’t have to be a grammar expert or know which agent you’ll approach or which publisher would best suit your manuscript. Not before you start. Not before you get those words on paper.

You only need to get to work. If you haven’t begun, start with the opening words or the first dialogue or the climax. If you’ve begun but haven’t finished, finish. Satisfy that creative need in you and put an end to your story.

And if you’re in that odd position of having finished a first novel but don’t know how to begin on the second, remind yourself that you’ve already done it once. Surely it’ll be easier the second time. (While that may be true for some of the tasks involved in writing, it may not be totally true. But I don’t want you worried about that. Let’s assume a second novel will be easier in ways that are important to the writer who’s just finishing the first novel.)

Finish what you’ve started and start what you’ve promised.

Don’t be defeated simply because you don’t cross the start line.

And keep in mind that writing a novel is not a timed race. You do have to finish a manuscript in order to have completed the race, but simply finishing means you’ve won.

The only way to not win is to stop before you’ve reached the end. Or to not begin at all.

I’m here today to encourage you to both begin and finish. To put away your excuses. To write the novel that only you can write.

*) http://theeditorsblog.net/fiction-editor-beth-hill/

For Shane Dallas—known as the so-called The Travel Camel, traveling is about learning and understanding. ‘Traveling is an intellectual concept for Shane,’ Polly, The Travel Frog, told Pathfinder about Shane Dallas, her friend in traveling.

I met Shane in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in May 2012. It didn’t take any effort to make him as a friend of mine since he is very friendly. But what made my jaw drop at that moment was not about the number of countries that he has visited, I was amazed with his answer to Dato Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, Malaysian Tourism Minister instead.

shane and polly in kuala lumpur

‘What are you interested in traveling? Food, places, culture?’ asked The Minister to Shane. I was standing beside him when The Minister asked the question, and imagined what my answer would be if it had been asked to me. ‘People’, that is always in my mind.

‘People. I am interested in people.’

What? I thought I heard my own voice, answering The Minister’s question. But it was not my voice. It was Shane himself, answering the question. I turned to him and looked at his face. Shane gave a serious look to The Minister. And suddenly I realized he was not an ordinary traveler. I made a note in my mind that I should check his blog immediately.

HIS answer drives me to observe him. I visited his blog, checked his photos, and made some notes to his writings.  Scrolling down his blog, I knew that Shane has Polly, The Travel Frog, as one of his three mascots. 

‘The US teachers who want to use me as a tool to educate their classes about the world saw a photo of two other mascots (a kangaroo and a tarsier) of Shane. They wrote to Shane, asking if Shane wanted to take me as a third traveling companion,’ Polly told me the story of her. She arrived in January 2010, making her just over 2,5 years old. Shane ensures that Polly visits different places and her blogs try to not only educate, but also remove barriers and preconceptions people have about other nationalities. ‘I do not say much, but I am always smiling. Shane knows I am happy with him,’ stated Polly.

What a lucky frog! I envy her luck. 

‘Did you know why Shane loves frogs and camels?’ Polly asked me. I shook my head. That was a question that I had in my mind when Shane—The Travel Camel—showed me a frog (not a camel) that he had been keeping in his backpack. Polly smiled and continued her question with an answer, ‘He loves frogs because we are cute and are beautifully colored.’

‘Are you trying to say that you are cute, Polly?’

Polly grinned, ‘Would you agree with me?’

I laughed. I didn’t deny it. I commented ‘hey, it’s cute’ to Shane when I saw Polly for the first time. Shane—sitting next to me during the opening ceremony of Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards—opened his backpack to take his camera. ‘Thank you, she’s my mascot,’ Shane spoke in lower tone in response to my comment. 

‘And why camel?’ I gave Polly a slight smile, hoping she knew the answer. I didn’t ask it to Shane when we were in Kuala Lumpur.

Polly rolled her eyes and raised her eyebrows. Her greenish skin looked so bright and fresh. Yes, she is beautifully colored, I said in my heart. It seemed that Polly knew that I was waiting for her explanation. But she just gave me a glance.

‘Come on, Polly!’ My index finger crawled her belly.

‘NOOO! Don’t touch my belly. It’s tingling!”

‘So, tell me now orrr….,’ I intimidated Polly with my two long index fingers. Polly jumped to the left, trying to avoid my finger attack. ‘OK! I am telling you! I am telling you! Stop crawling your fingers on my belly!’ 

I gave her a big grin and put my fingers down. Polly phewed. ‘You know, camels have lovely eyes and strong personalities which Shane finds endearing.’ When she said that, Polly tried to mimic the expression of a camel. She made her round eyes become shady by lowering her eyelids.

‘You are looking awful! Not lovely at all, Polly!’ We giggled. Polly looked even cuter when her round eyes turned into two narrow lines. ‘But….,’ Polly continued her sentence while trying to hold her laugh, ‘Shane’s favorite creatures are raptors, like eagles, hawks, falcons. For Shane finds them noble, powerful, and graceful.’

‘Why did he choose The Travel Camel as his ID if his favorite creatures are raptors?’  

Polly jumped into my lap. Her eyes looked bigger as if she would tell me a big secret of Shane. ‘Shane told me that his friend suggested that name more than a decade ago. Shane is fond of camels, so rhyming ‘travel’ with ‘camel’ was perfect!’

I nodded. For almost thirty seconds we’re in silence. The memory brought me back to the stage when Shane stood in front of the audience and gave a speech. He quoted Mark Twain, ‘Explore. Dream. And Discover’ and spoke with rhyme. All the audience was captivated by his style, including me.

‘Hey, Polly, if Shane has to go somewhere and he just has to pick 3 things to accompany him, will you be one of them?’

Polly gave me a big smile. ‘It could be. But as long as I know Shane, there are 3 things more important than me to be brought while he travels.’

I frowned listening to her answer. ‘What will they be?’

‘His camera, an enquiring mind, and a smile.’

A smile. I agreed with Polly. A smile is a currency that can be accepted anywhere.

‘If traveling were a woman, how would Shane describe her?’ I kept giving Polly questions. Polly jumped into a pillow on the couch and laid down. She yawned. ‘You’d better ask Shane directly.’

I sighed. ‘One more question, Polly. Why people?’

‘Whaaat…?’

‘Why is Shane interested in people?’ I moved to sit on the couch, near a pillow that she slept on. 

Polly spontaneously covered her belly with her hands when I came closer to her. I raised my hands, indicating that I would not do anything to her belly. ‘Hmm… hm… He will be home soon…. zzz…zzz….’ Her two round eyes dimmed. Not longer after that, the beautiful greeny frog, named Polly, felt asleep. [13]

The pathfinder: Shane Dallas, The Travel Camel –

blog: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/The-Travel-Camel/ | twitter: @thetravelcamel

1.     Where did you go when you traveled for the first time and why did you choose that destination?

The first travel I completed independently as an adult was to New Zealand.  I chose this because it was affordable, close, and similar to Australia, so it was a good way to commence exploring other parts of the world. When I was a young boy, I travelled with my parents on long road trips within Australia. I loved tracking our progress on a map and seeing the different country towns we passed through.

2.     What did you learn from your first travel experience?

That overseas travel awes me – and even after twenty five years of travelling to different countries, that awe has not lessened.

3.     What made you decide to be a world traveler? How many countries have you visited?

My country and territory count is currently 62, but it will be 65 before the end of September. However, the number of countries is not as important as the manner of travel. I could have visited 100 countries by now if I skipped quickly through the Caribbean or Central America – but that would not allow for my preferred means of travel.

4.     What is the most interesting thing for you when traveling? 

For me, travelling is an intellectual concept – it is about learning and understanding.  It is about returning home with a better comprehension of this world and its people. Every single person I meet can teach me something new – whether that be about their culture, history, life, religion, food, or music. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to travel to different countries, something denied to the majority of the world’s population. Thus people who will live in one country or even one village all their life, or who may never have been educated, are not lesser than me, they just have had less opportunities, and they still have their story and a life that I can learn from.  As French novelist Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.”

5.     What is the concept of ‘traveling’, ‘going back’, and ‘going home’ for you?

“Travelling” is best experienced when exposing oneself to differences rather than cocooning oneself in similarities.“ This is the reason I usually travel solo, for this mode of travelling provides the least barriers to my surroundings.  I try to fully immerse myself in a destination, so I want to see the lives of the local people, eat at the places they eat, and stay at the places they stay. I’m Australian, so don’t want to travel overseas and spend the majority of my time with other Australians, I can do that in Australia. I search for something different when travelling overseas.

 I rarely engage in “going back” because there is so much more of the world to explore.  I sometimes return to the same country if I particularly love it, or to see parts of the country I missed during an earlier visit. I have been to Singapore almost ten times, but that is due to being the base for my airline of choice when leaving Australia. 

“Going home” means appreciating how fortunate I am in life – that I can turn on a tap and there is clean, running water, that I can flick and switch and I have electricity. If I am sick, there are doctors and hospitals nearby, and I do not want for any food.  I have access to the Internet, music, television and other forms of entertainment at the press of a button. My life is blessed and I never take it for granted.

6.     Where is your home? And why do you call it home?

The world is my home. Barring any place with an active armed conflict, I feel comfortable wherever I am – whether that be Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East or Oceania – and any place I feel comfortable is my home. I do not need to be near friends or family to feel comfortable, as my comfort comes from within – in the control of my thoughts and emotions – “No man is free who is not master of himself” quoted the ancient Greek philosopher, Epictetus. I believe that I have achieved this, so it makes travelling (especially solo) much easier.

7. What will you prepare in advance when you travel somewhere?

I love planning for my travels! I usually try to read something about the country or culture prior to travelling – especially if spending a lot of time there. For example, I read many books on Ancient Egypt before travelling to that country, and have read historical books about Spain, India, and China before travelling to these destinations.  I even watched the film “The Last Emperor” prior to visiting Beijing and “Hotel Rwanda” before arriving in Rwanda. If staying a lot of time in one region, I’ll try to learn some basics of the language – Hindi in India, Swahili in Kenya, Amharic in Ethiopia, Arabic in the Middle East, or German and Spanish in Europe. Unfortunately, I lose this knowledge after I travel, but have still retained basic German and Arabic due to infrequent practice.

Pre-booking accommodation depends on certain factors.  I generally do not book if I have a flexible itinerary or it is not peak season, because I am happy to wander around and find the accommodation that provides the best value.  Certain parts of Asia are the exception, as prices are better if booking in advance.  Safaris in Kenya can fill quickly, especially amongst the best operators, so I will book them at least six months in advance.  The earliest I have booked a hotel was for New Year’s Eve at the Pyramids, and I made that booking a year in advance.

8. What are you eager to find when traveling?

I gravitate toward countries that provide the strongest difference to where I grew up in Australia – with Ethiopia and North Korea being the most stark examples.  I am particularly fascinated by different religions and always spend a lot time exploring places of faith and worship. For me, travelling is about learning rather than relaxing or shopping. If I was to travel to place without learning anything new, increasing my understanding about the world, or obtaining great photographs, then I would consider this a wasted journey.

9. Have you ever been tired and wanted to stop? If yes, when did you decide to stop, what did you do?

I can travel solidly for approximately five-six weeks before I need to stop. I generally find a comfortable hotel and spend several days doing very little to replenish my energy so that I can resume my travel with a renewed vigour. It takes many months of travel before I feel the need to halt for a prolonged period, so even if I had the opportunity, I would probably not travel for more than three months at a time.

10. What do you miss about traveling?

I miss the sense of discovery that travelling brings. Because I am a deep thinker, travelling provides a great opportunity to consider many aspects of each destination.

11. What is the silliest thing that you have done during traveling?

Running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain (correctly called the “encierro” or the corralling of the bulls) – a crazy, dangerous activity which causes many injuries every year and even the occasional death.

12. What is your dream destination? Why is it your dream destination? Have you visited it? If yes, when and what did you feel when you accomplished your dream?

I do not have a place that I would call my dream destination, but do have certain ingredients I look for, namely a place with rich culture, strong history, superior attractions, friendly people, delicious food and effective transportation. I feel immensely excited when I do discover such a place, and these are most obvious in India, Syria and the Korean Peninsula (both North and South). Many other countries come close to these three.

13. What is your favorite destination and why?

India is my favourite country for it possesses in abundance all my essential ingredients in a travel destination.  With such diversity amongst its one billion inhabitants, India feels as if the whole world has been crammed into this one nation. My favourite region is the Middle East – there is something about its people, culture, and history that frequently draws me there.

14. What do you think about Indonesia and which part of Indonesia have you visited?

I have visited Indonesia twice. The first in 2006 was for a conference (which I helped organise) at a five star resort at Jimbaran Bay in Bali – a really beautiful area fronting a largely deserted beach.  The second was a holiday to Magelang, Borobudur and Yogyakarta on Java for 10 days.  Indonesia is one of the best value destinations in the world with outstanding food, courteous people, and natural beauty.  I often recommend Indonesia to other travellers, and do hope to return for a third visit at some stage.

15. Do you have favorite traveler or travel blogger? Why do you like them?

I am impressed by the intellectual prowess and approach to travelling of Jason Jenson, nicknamed “Aspiring Nomad” – http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/aspiringnomad/. I was fortunate to meet him in Bangkok late last year, and we have chatted many time via the Internet before and since.

16. What are 5 things you will not miss in your travel destination?

My travel involves immersing myself within the place I visit, and doing so in a respectful and non-judgemental manner.  This colours what I do not miss about a destination:

• – The most important is to avoid places that pander to the excesses of human nature, namely tourism focusing on alcohol, drugs or sex. I never drink alcohol or take drugs, so I avoid all such places, even in Australia.
• – I try to avoid places that compromise their culture and society to chase the tourist dollar. It has short term benefits, but the long term detriments are more significant. I wish countries did not bend to the pressure of establishing foreign enclaves filled with souvenirs and restaurants to satisfy every need of tourists. Visitors to a country should be prepared to try different food and to listen to different music, to name just two. As American Clifton Fadiman wrote, “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”
• – Restaurants serving non-local food filled with foreigners. Why do I want to laze around in Starbucks or McDonalds in places such as Indonesia when the local cuisine is so fantastic? Maybe such meals are okay for a change once in a while, but certainly not constantly.
• – Large tour groups. These dilute the travelling experience by putting such a large buffer between the traveller and the local people that it makes me wonder what their benefit is.
• – Disrespectful tourists – regardless of the number.  I cringe when seeing male and female visitors exposing a lot of skin (wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts) in the Middle East. It is a Muslim region with strong societal norms, so please respect them! There are other lesser known examples, such as not speaking on a phone on public transport in Japan. Prior research is helpful in being respectful. I also consider taking portraits of people without permission to be disrespectful – please ask first!

17. If traveling were a woman, how would you describe her?

Exciting and exotic, alluring and addictive.

*) copyright of images: shane dallas.