Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is Life and Times. Time to share some life lessons and experiences which guide my writing.
Beyond Bookshelves
Last time in Life and Times, I shared the benefits of building bookcases. I discussed moving forward after returning home to be with family.
Starting with the simple goal of building bookcases for all my scattered books proved a great help. It gave me an accomplishment in organization which I can see every morning.
However, life hasn’t stopped moving since the building of these bookcases. In fact, it’s been moving forward in quite a few great ways.
Given that life shapes inspiration for writing, I figure a brief update is in order. Consider this post to be my early considerations for the next few sentences in my author bio.
Now, let’s see where building those bookcases has led.
Enjoying the Community
Building bookcases was a personal goal. It was something to boost my mood and remind me of what I can do when I set my mind toward something. It was a simple first step.
Next step was to find a good sense of community. I needed a way to feel more connected to people living around me. Community’s one of the most natural ways of avoiding a rut.
Thankfully, I already had two angles in mind.
The Parish
First, there was my parish, St. John Neumann’s. I made a pretty good effort of getting to mass there fairly regularly.
Unfortunately, working away at a boarding school, I didn’t always have the chance to be too involved with anything else. Both my days and my nights were taken.
Now I had no excuse.
I started with a Thursday morning event, the Men’s Prayer Breakfast. Having graduated from an all-boy high school, I guess you could say I was looking for a familiar environment.
This proved to be just what I needed in more ways than one.
I met some good people, discussed some intriguing videos, and found a whole new appreciation for microwavable mini quiches.
The early start time of 6:00 AM helped me start regulating how late I’d stay up and sleep in. Sure, Wednesday night and Thursday morning were the most affected, but soon every day would change for the sake of a consistent sleep schedule.
Over time, my dad has started coming to breakfast too. That development’s been great for giving us some additional quality family time.
Honestly, I never expected him to enjoy it as much as he has. Given the choice, he’s always been more of a night owl than an early bird.
Now the breakfast has led to other things. I’ve gone to dinners and lunches. The parish book club has become a nice weekly routine as well.
The Library
Alongside my parish, I reached out to another source of community, good old Canton Public Library.
You see, I had long been looking for a writing group to workshop pieces with, tearing through every line to see what all works.
My main inspiration was this one YouTuber called Professor Geek. He had some interesting points to say about workshopping and receiving feedback. His main idea was that you needed others to help isolate a piece’s strengths and focus in on them.
Having released some books without workshopping, the good professor’s words impacted me all the more. I wanted whatever I release next to be bigger and better. Workshopping would be key to that.
I researched local writing groups, and my first result proved to be the library’s Adult Writers’ Group.
That first night at the group is something I’ll never forget.
It was finals week for the local high schools. Teens had taken over the library. Food delivery drivers lined the parking lot. Licked-clean Hungry Howie’s boxes filled every trash can.
I didn’t get to cover any of my pieces. Apparently, I was supposed to submit my pieces the week before the meeting. Still, I enjoyed seeing how things worked, getting tastes of what everyone was writing.
All kinds of writers have been present here. Some write memories for their families. Others write fantasy for themselves, Still more seek some kind of wider audience.
When I did get the chance to bring my pieces, I received higher quality feedback than I’d ever expected. Many of the changes in my most recent revision of Story Chronicles have actually been the direct result of this commentary.
Another good benefit of the Writer Group is how it keeps on a tight schedule for my projects.
You see, while this blog does demand a weekly schedule for some of my writing, my other projects haven’t had that before. I used to just be able to work on them at my own pace.
Sometimes that self-determined pace would involve slouching during a few busy days and weeks here and there.
Now I need to work at the pace of having content ready to revise on a bi-weekly cycle. Meetings occur every other Tuesday. I always want to have something ready.
Honestly, I feel far more committed to my writing than ever before. Getting on the schedule of this writing group has been one of my biggest steps forward since starting this blog.
New Challenge, New Responsibilities
Of course, early morning breakfasts and committed writing groups aren’t destinations in themselves. They are merely further steps on a much longer journey.
Thankfully, these steps prepared me for the next major step in my professional career.
My most recent job search really started in earnest in January 2020. The holidays had come and gone. I was ready for a new challenge.
I suppose you could say I was used to having more responsibility than I had being back home. Throughout college, I helped care for my maternal grandma. Boarding school work demanded almost every hour focused on at least one of the kids.
However, I also wanted something closer to home that enabled me to be with family more than my previous job had allowed.
The search was tricky. Traditional teaching jobs were hard to find at this time of year. As I widened my search, I grew interested in the idea of doing something different.
I landed at an online learning company based nearby. It’s a new path with plenty of similarities and plenty of differences from what I’ve done before.
Much of the job consists of proofreading and page customization, both things I’ve done professionally as a teacher and personally as a writer and blogger.
The biggest differences regard the environment. After working at schools, it’s weird being at a place where the main focus is getting work done rather than filling out time. I can even take my lunch essentially whenever I want and go to the restroom without requesting a classroom monitor.
Biggest benefit to this line of work is being able to have time to myself at home. I don’t have to sink these moments into planning and grading. All my paperwork’s done during the day.
With that extra time, I’m able to maintain the life I’ve built for myself at home. I’m able to be with my family, blog on a weekly basis, go to my writer group, and attend events at my parish.
There’s a certain charm to being in the classroom seeing kids get those “A-ha!” moments. However, I know my current work achieves that effect too, even if I may not personally see the bursts of sudden understanding.
Where I am now, I can accept the growing responsibilities of my job and my life without sacrificing who I want to become. It’s truly a great blessing to have.
And you know what? I don’t even have to stop here.
Who knows what I can fit in my life? I’m going to make the best out of it that I can, and that’s only going to help me get inspired write the best works I can.
Discussion Time!
What do you think of all the bookshelves have led to? Do you have any similar stories of growth? What do you do to make sure you live the best life you can?
Kotcher’s Call to Action
If you like my content and wish to see more, you could check out my books Five Strange Stories and Good Stuff: 50 Poems from Youth on Amazon. They are enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperbacks can also get the eBooks for free.
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