January is resolution time. For writers, that means time to renew our commitment to our characters, our word count, or at least our butt in the chair time. I'm no different. In fact, I made several resolutions, for the year, about writing. One of them had to do with editing. One had to do with publishing. One even had to do with actually writing. Here we are two thirds through January though, and the only one I am faithful to is the writing. Sad to say, I write because I love to write. Not edit, not publish. Unfortunately, I already have hard drives and baskets and folders full of "writing." It's time to do something with it.
Challenges are helpful. I am competitive, and I like winning, so I have accepted the challange from a writer friend to enter a non prize winning contest. Why? The winner gets their work read on stage. Hmm. Maybe being read is enough of an incentive to get me to polish up a few things.
Fear is also helpful. I signed up for another workshop, and have to have stories or chapters reader ready at least two times in the next ten weeks. That doesn't sound like much, but I've challenged myself to make it "new writing." That's right. no pulling a tried and true and already work-shopped story from the baskets. That's too easy. Those stories are old and the emotion that created them is long gone. I'm no longer attached to them, so when I read them cold, they don't elicit a need from me to fix them, while preserving the passion from which they were created. Great for editing. Not so great for creating. And I want the encouragement that comes from having someone read what I'm working on now, and want more.
What gets you to keep your resolutions?
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