Salute 2009

As I come to the end of another year-and facing the problems of putting 10 on my checks-I am not wont to wax philosophical, but a lot has happened this year. I’ve lost a few good friends way too soon. I was able to reconnect with many more friends at our class reunion and share some laughs and some memories. With Facebook, I can still be connected with a lot of those friends…if they aren’t too busy playing Farmville or Bejeweled. Lol. I also shared some family tears and laughter and made some new memories.

And of course, the writing. Wow! Being able to speak at the NANO wrap up party was wonderful. I look forward to this next year preparing for the 2011 publications of two books.

I’m not one for resolutions, partly because if you want to do something, or stop doing something, go ahead and begin today or tomorrow at the latest. There is no reason to have a magical new year’s date to make a change. I’ve already done that. With the announcement of the acceptance by Echelon Press I started increasing the amount of writing I do every week. It has motivated me and maybe that’s all it takes, a little motivation and a seeing of the success in the effort. I’m already into chapter four of the rewrite of the sequel to Beta and making excellent progress.

There are as many ways to write as there are writers. I’ve met several who insist on a rigid schedule of writing every day for x amount of time. If that works for you, excellent. Maybe that would work for me in other circumstances but for right now, I can’t force myself to write something every day. It feels forced and the result is not up to par. Sometimes I am able to pick up a pen and scribble out a few pages. However, I think the problem we writer’s run into is finding excuses NOT to write. Yes, I’m guilty of that, also. It’s so easy not to write because of…well, pick a distraction. No time, feeling sick, hunger, TV, phone calls…whatever your excuse, it’s there and the temptation to delay is often so irresistible.

I think it goes back to motivation. When I started attending a weekly critique group and listening to others read their material and hearing the critiques given, I became motivated to write something every week for that group meeting. I felt I wasn’t contributing if I didn’t write and read. Sure some of the stuff wasn’t my best, but I kept writing. In another group I think a few of us mentioned the need for making time to write. Sure, life gets in the way, and there will be things that have to be done and writing may take a backseat for awhile. But if we are truly writers with a goal to be published, sometimes, we have to push life out of the way and make time to pick up a pen or turn on the word processor.

So if there’s any resolution, it’s to complete Alpha and to keep you up to date on the progress.

So get out there and write something and don’t stop!