‘One step at a time.’ ‘One day at a time.’ These and many other similar proverbial phrases emphasise the advantages of doing things a little bit at a time. Write a book one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page at a time. Take life one minute, one hour, one day, one week at a time.
Of course, this has to be tempered with taking the long view. I can write a book one word at a time – but it’s much easier to choose each word if I’ve got an outline of the book, a plan for the chapter, a goal for this section, an idea of the main points this page needs to cover. ‘Know where you’re going’ and ‘Dream big’ are also standard advice for a reason.
Books are my first example because I read, write, and discuss books regularly. But of course these things are applicable to other issues. Life in general. Trying to work out how far ahead to plan in detail when the UK government may or may not introduce some or other restrictions. Blogging. (How often have I set out a new year with an ambitious blogging plan and dropped it within the first few weeks, in favour of a more spontaneous approach? Let’s just say… it’s been known.)
Perhaps this was a long-winded way to say that I felt I should update my blog but I don’t know what to talk about. (And maybe I don’t need to; the WordPress stats page assures me people are still reading my 2016 post about Quakers celebrating Christmas.) I am working on big projects which aren’t yet ready to share – I have sent a manuscript to a publisher for consideration; an edited volume is in the final stages; another novel draft is in progress; other academic projects take shape then break apart without reaching the page – and I’ll be posting if there’s anything to say on those fronts.
In smaller projects, I have had two things published in Friends Journal recently. One is a short Quaker-themed speculative fiction story, What A Minute Could Do, and the other is an article on language, The Quaker Vocabulary of Tomorrow. A conclusion we could draw from both pieces is that if we pay attention to the big ideas but also take things word by word and minute by minute (in both senses), important changes may be possible.
Rhiannon Grant 
One small step for man, one big step for mankind?
Your article on language in Friends Journal I think implies that ‘language’ is not just a matter of language – it reflects or directs action and the ‘real world’ too.
Will Quakers, with dwindling numbers, ‘seize the day’ and, whilst mindful of the needs of the eternal, DO something different appropriate to the new era, and not just hope that because ‘we’ have done it that way for 370 years, it will continue to serve?
If you have better platforms, such as Friends Journal and books, why blog? A blog is a first idea. Rather than planning a proper article, you can jot down an idea here, and see if anyone likes it, look at the comments, like a conversation in a pub. A plan for a year’s blogging is hardly necessary if you plan to take a year to write a book, but you might have odd ideas needing expressing where a blog is the best place. It’s always good to read you, and I read that FJ article. As a nontheist, I will respond, on my blog.
Here it is: nontheist words for God within.