Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Writing In 2015

How is it December already?

Yeah, that's the question echoing in my head. I'm at that point in the year (you know, the end) where I wax philosophically, get all introspective, and generally get down in the dumps when I look back how the year went. Not, really that unique, I know. Everybody experiences this kind of thing.

As a writer, I recollect the year and see not only what I was able to accomplish but how far I fell short of whatever ideal goals I'd set for myself back in January. I look at things in terms of books and stories I completed or how many words I wrote, day in and day out. What I've found is that I had a pretty lousy year. The writing dropped way down. I didn't get a book done. I did manage a few short stories. Not at all the quantity or pace I'd hoped for in the beginning.

The other side of being in December is you start looking ahead at the coming year. I'm in this process of not looking back at 2014 but rather looking into the possibilities available in 2015. Do I want a repeat of 2014? Absolutely not! However, if I don't want to get caught up in a rut I need to be constructive when it comes to what I can honestly accomplish. What is realistic? What sort of potential is really there to grow and build up myself as a writer? These kinds of probing questions are washing over me even now and will continue through the last few weeks of the year.

How do I avoid flippancy or the sort of wishy-washiness that undermines a productive writing life? Good question. Does procrastination have to win? No. No it doesn't.

I know that I need to reorder life to better accommodate my writing. In that way, I must wrest control away from other dimensions of myself that seek to hog all of my time. Distractions abound but if I let them, they'll wreck everything.

These are all things to acknowledge when I contemplate writing in 2015.




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