Happy New Year!
I don't make a lot of New Year's Resolutions but I do look back at the events of the previous year to see if there are any trends that I want to change. (Well, the ones that I have control over any way.) The biggest change that I need to make involves my writing. If you've been keeping track of my posts you know that the past couple of years have been an emotional roller coaster which has taken a toll on my writing. This roller coaster continued right up until the end of 2017 when my mother-in-law, the last of our parents, passed away in November.
If I'm being honest, and I always strive to be, I'll admit that I have seriously considered just giving up writing altogether. I mean, it seems that I pretty much have - albeit unintentionally. However, I'm hard-headed (somewhere my husband is muttering "That's an understatement."). I'm not willing to just throw in the towel; I still have stories to tell.
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Continuing the honesty trend, I also had no idea how to fix a process that is currently broken. Getting from where I am now to where I used to be when I spent at least an hour and a half every night writing seems overwhelming. Then, I came across a tweet by an author friend that took my breath away. This friend and I have never met, yet we have encouraged each other through the ups and downs of elder care and the death of our parents - her mother died about a month before mine. What I didn't realize is that her writing had also suffered as a result of the events in her life. What a relief to find out that I'm not the only one who hasn't been able to "write through the pain!" So, what did her tweet say that impacted me so? In her tweet she was rejoicing having written a couple of thousand words in a days time because she hadn't done that in months. But, that wasn't the part that took my breath away. In her tweet she stated that her daily word count goal is only 250 words and that most days she doesn't make that. *insert angelic choir here*
That's when I realized - I don't have to go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. I'm not a race car, I'm a writer. I don't have to go from only writing maybe once a week to writing an hour and a half a day. All I have to do is take baby steps. So, for now, my goal is to write 500 words a day. If I can write more than that, great. If not, I'm going to try something different and not beat myself up about it. (Wish me luck!) Baby steps will help me remember how to walk. Once I'm walking, then I can learn to run again.
I've also set myself a couple of goals as far as writing projects go - but no where near as many as I planned last year. First, I want to finish and submit DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES, the next entry in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. I wanted to submit it last year but, unfortunately, it's still not much more than a rough draft. Once that's done, I want to write the next entry in my Paws and Effect short story series. After that, who knows? I have any number of stories vying for my attention.
So, here's to new years, new goals, and baby steps!
Do you make resolutions?
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