New Year's Blabbering: Have One More

     The end of one year beginning of the next and the magical hope that this shiny new 365 days will be better than the ones before. Of course the first of those golden new moments is in the coldest harshest months where most complain about the cold.  (Not me though, never bothered me much and I still get snow days.)

      But human nature compels us to strive for perfection...or at least better than yesterday. Honestly that's what makes life so awesome. We have great capicity for screwing up, and the amazing ability to grow from that. And I totally made mistakes in 2014...but did a lot of cool stuff too.

     I also failed in my 2014 resolutions. I could blame life, it has a habit of getting in the way. I could blame my own laziness or listless ways. Could blame work. Could blame a lot of things. That never gets you anywhere, besides I figured it out: I made the wrong resolutions. Most of them were about changing things all at once, that never works. It's like changing your hair color from black to golden blonde. You could do it with one bottle of developer but you end up with a rat's nest or straw.

    So my resolution this year is simple: One more.

One more cookie.
One more slice.
One more push-up.
One more mile.
One more kiss.
One more hug.
One more dragon.
One more level.
One more minute.
One more snooze.
One more laugh.
One more push.

One more word.

Just one more....that's all I plan to do this year. May your 2015 bring you one more too.

Rust and bones

Nothing makes me so keenly aware of time like November. The masks of Halloween put away, the dread of over filling dinners yet to come. At work one grading period is finished leaving only 3 left to ram everything into. It's deceiving. It feels longer than it is. Same with writing. I took a little break, a couple of weeks turned into months, and from there it spirals. It seems so hard to start again.

But that's another hoax of time. I'd broken from routine, not writing. Note cards with scribblings, electronic pages with disjointed ramblings and half coherent impressions. They were just layered under the sticky notes and tabs reminding me to do the same thing I've forgotten to three days in a row. Distracted not retired. The weariness has crept into my bones but so did the muse. The desires still there, the pieces just have to be put back together. But that's another great thing about this time of the year. I love the smell of burning wood in a fireplace. The nice thing about a fire, once started the occasional stoking is all you need to make it roar back.

Starting is scary. Restarting is fending off a pack of hungry dogs with a carrot.

        Alright, I need to write. I’ve been in a stuck in a rut for too long now, probably it’s a lot of the negative energy and feeling’s I’ve been holding on to lately. So, after a month of not writing to see if I still had the skills or the drive…oh, who am I kidding I’ve been making notes in 3 different note books and scanning through the freelance positions. 

Yeah, I like pink. And it's already full of scribbling.

       So now I need to force myself into a schedule. I’d love to say: “Yes, a thousand words a day minimum!” But that’s like saying, “Yes to train to run a 5k, I’ll start by jumping into that 2.5K tomorrow morning.” (Not sure if that’s how running works, but I’m sure it’s close enough.)


Seems legit.

Then smaller steps are needed:

1.      Read something new every day.

        Check! I downloaded Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith. Now I’d love to say that I did that before I knew it was Rowling, but I didn’t. And I probably would’ve missed this book otherwise and that would’ve been a shame.

       Also I have a ton of reading to do for an AP course I have to teach. Granted it’s my fault for assigning the work, but if I need to learn to not hate non-fiction, so do the kids.

 

2.      Look for inspiration wherever it strikes you.

         Check! Honestly most people know my unhealthy love of Skyrim, but I also have Dishonored and it’s DLC. I loved the silent protagonist Corvo and Daud in the DLC, in my version at least, is more the redeemed anti-hero/bad guy. It’s made me think and branch out into more urban and sci-fi stuff.

3.      Have fun.

        Well, yeah. We have trips planned. And games, but no more dynamite.

 

4.      Write something every day.


       Now here’s the tough part. An hour, 500 words, both? I have to let go of the rejections—it’s part of it—let go of the familiar and take more chances. I need to just get the words down, then I can make them better.

 

       And that’s part of where this comes into play. I need to force myself to write more, and better. Blogging is writing, and I’ve been really lazy with the blog. You’re all welcome to come along as I try to get better at this and get my work out there for others to read. I’m submitting, I’m writing, and driving the husband with “honey, could you listen to this?” So my goals: post here at least once a week, submit to at least 2 places a  month, and write until I get the story out. Come one, come all, let’s get this party started.