It's been a crazy year, probably one of my most tumultuous and change-filled. I've been tested, frustrated, run mad, and come out stronger for it. I've finished numerous short stories, poetry pieces, and a novel(la), had a novel accepted for small press publication and begun edits, started a new part-time job, had a work location close, change in bosses, change in responsibilities, added a new student, minor car accident, unraveled a health mystery, chopped my hair and dyed it purple, started fostering for a canine adoption group ...
I'm not entirely sure that's the complete list.
Nothing has been simple or straightforward; it's all been complicated, twisty, and often piled atop each other in a way that no one would believe in fiction. "Come on, it just happened to occur in that order?" It may not have been easy on my nerves, but I think I'm stronger for navigating it all.
To those setting New Year's resolutions, I salute you. Sure, it's an arbitrary unit of time, but so are most self-imposed deadlines ... and deadlines can be liberating. I believe in concrete goals, no matter when you choose to set them.
For myself, at least on the writing front, I will not be setting long-term goals - not because I'm a hypocrite, but because achieving my goals ultimately depends on someone else (an editor, agent or publisher). I can take as many steps as I can find in the right direction, but success needs a green light from someone else. I'm thinking particularly that my next hopes are to get an agent and a short story in a pro-level anthology.
So I have ... hopes? Hopes for the New Year and new change.
But I'd take a calmer year, too.
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