starting the sprint and commit to just writing twenty minutes at a time.”
“Wow, I had no idea anyone did that.”
“I don't know if that many people do.”
“Which ones do you watch?”
He pulls out his phone and shows me The Courtney Project, which is a channel run by one of the authors of Kennedy Fox.
“They write romance, right?”
He nods, shrugs, and says, “Writing is a very solitary thing. Sometimes with all the distractions that I have on my phone and my laptop, it's hard to motivate myself to focus and put all that away for a moment. So, instead of waiting around for an ideal time to write every day, I commit to writing for just an hour five days a week.”
“Any particular time?”
“The afternoons work well for me. Around one or two. Right after lunch. This is an unusual time, but I figured I would get today's work out of the way.”
“So, what happens then?”
“Then I put on the YouTube video and either watch the few minutes of banter that she has in the beginning or skip right ahead to the writing sprints. There's a big clock on the screen and I commit to writing just twenty minutes at first, sometimes even fifteen. Usually that's enough to get me started. That's enough to build my momentum and to give me a small win.”
“Wow, really?”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing this for half a year now and I'm actually getting a lot more work done than I did before. I have a lot more time during the day to do other things for the business including, editing, marketing, advertising, and all the fun stuff.”
I nod my head and sit down on the swing next to him. I kick off a little bit, making us go higher and faster.
“I'm not going to make any guarantees about the stability of this thing. I did install it myself.”
I laugh, but then quickly halt the swinging almost to a stop.
“Have you ever wanted to write fiction?”
I start to stare at the horizon and wonder if I dare tell him the truth.
“You did, didn't you?”
I shrug but refuse to look at him.
“What happened?”
“I don't know. I got a job. I write for a living. It's enough.”
“Enough? Is that what you want from your life?”
“I don't know what I want. I barely have enough hours in the day to do this job properly. I don't think I can make room for any distractions.”
“If you enjoy what you're doing, then go right ahead,” Liam says, “but I just want you to know that life is too short to do something that you don't really want to. It's too short to not devote yourself to your passion.”
“Is this all you ever wanted to do?”
“Well, actually, the funny thing is that I am quite interested in nonfiction as well.”
“You are?”
“I liked your investigation. I like to read nonfiction accounts about murders and injustices in the criminal justice system. I like to watch YouTube videos and listen to podcasts about that, too.”
We sit here in silence for a few moments as I ponder what he has just said.
“I don’t mean to offend you in any way,” he says. “I think that the work that you do is important and you do it well. I just wanted to present an option in case you hadn't thought about writing fiction before, but, of course, it's not for everyone.”
I bite my lower lip. I don't want to come right out and admit it.
I'm actually quite embarrassed by it, but I have started more than a few novels in my day and have never gotten past the 20,000 word mark.
20
Emma
After I leave Liam alone to do some actual work, I set up my computer in the dining room and decide to do some work of my own.
I have this follow-up article to write about Liam, which he knows about, but we haven't really discussed anything in detail yet.
Given what happened before, I have a feeling that I have to run everything that I write past him, in order to be entirely on the up and up, yet that seems a little bit unfair to ask of a journalist as well.
I can't be expected to write only positive things about him, right? Then again, I don't really have many negative things to say.
I turn on my computer and return to some of the forums and Facebook groups which I relied on to find him in the first place.
Liam isn't much of a mystery to me now, but there