I love the beginning of a new year as it’s always filled with possibilities before reality kicks in and life gets in the way of best intentions! I’m off to a good start writing this before getting ready to have the first meal of the year with some of my family.
Towards the end of 2018, I was so busy that it wasn’t surprising I wasn’t firing on all cylinders by Christmas Day, after cooking the dinner. At least I haven’t been over-indulging with food and chocolate, however, so that’s a positive.
After bringing out two relatively short books, (one children’s middle grade, one novella) and helping daughter to publish her short story and flash fiction collection – all in the last two months of the year, I’m now reviewing my writing.
I would like 2019 to be more about creativity rather than rushing to get things finished. It’s partly my own fault as I have so much unfinished work but I want to slow down a little and enjoy the creative process again. At least that’s the intention, although I suspect I work best to deadlines – will maybe have to make them more realistic this year!
One of daughter’s lovely gifts, My Creative Journal, will help by giving me something to focus on. Together with some of the other creative or inspirational gifts she gave me before, and some I already had, I’m hoping to allow time to put some of the suggestions into practise. Some of them are about being more mindful, another way to help focus the mind on one thing at a time!
Meanwhile, I still have three full-length novels awaiting completion, not to mention all the other ideas and shorter items in various places so a little bit of forward planning is called for before routine returns to normal on Monday. Plus, there are the novels awaiting my adjudication and written critique for the Pitlochry Award at the SAW annual conference in spring – thankfully only the first 15,000 words of each to be placed by the beginning of March. It’s an enjoyable task and I’m always interested in other people’s creative imagination, but I’ll space it in between my own work.
Wishing you a happy, healthy and creative 2019,
Rosemary