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| Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson |
Writers tend to hang on to something that works: a style, a voice, a genre. One does not reach a satisfying voice - after years of trying - and then abandon it or resolve to find another. One does not abandon a style that seems to work with a hard-won audience. One sticks with a genre that seems to suit and welcome the style and voice.
That's the WHAT. How about the HOW? The way writers work is where there is room for New Year resolutions. The methodology can be pruned. The routine can be managed and altered. Surely the discipline and time management can stand a tweak or two. Perhaps the way one files ideas or stacks the concepts that weave together plot and sub-plot. Or there might be a better way to construct a day around one's most fruitful writing time.
This year, as we lurch inexorably towards 2011, this writer has resolved to make only one resolution. Any more, and they will get broken - as always - about halfway between Christmas and Easter. One resolution should be easier to manage and keep. It's going to be a HOW resolution about methodology, organisation, preparedness, and keeping a neater mind.
Perhaps the idea of just one resolution might suit you too: find one whose concept will affect all other niggly things in your life you feel could do with adjustment. It could be an all-encompassing resolution about stress, or free time, or time management. It might sound big and grand, or small and manageable. You choose: but choose something that can be done in small steps and will still be around in April. By all means leave a comment about how you intend to go about it.
See you then!
You're way ahead of me, Rosanne. My resolutions are still at the'lalalalalaala' stage. I wish you a happy and successful New Year - and may your resolutions behave exactly as you want them to.
ReplyDeleteI'm great at preparation and planning, Helen - it's execution that kills!
ReplyDeleteMy resolution, if it can be called that, is to have more fun writing. The last year has been all about churning out text for cash and figuring out how to sell it even more. Because of this I have found myself dangerously close to burnout too often. While my eye will still on be on becoming a profitable writer, I intend to put more emphasis on writing that is fun and enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteit might be harder to sell, but then again, the gibberish that appears when you're too worn out to think straight doesn't sell at all;)
Happy New Year.
Rosanne, I suppose it's my non-conformist streak that has always made me baulk at the idea of making any sort of resolution at the beginning of a year. It's as if the calendar were a schedule imposed by "them who must be obeyed". But, perhaps because due to a slight mellowing, I'm reviewing my rebellion: I might even resolve to make a resolution -- sometime this year!
ReplyDeleteExhaustion and resolutions seem to go together: I'll get in line when I have enough energy! It seems to sum up what you both said, Stephen and Paul.
ReplyDeleteI miss Calvin and Hobbes :-). Personally, my goal is to put higher priority on my writing projects so that client work doesn't always occupy the top of my to-do list.
ReplyDeleteCreative work always seems to take the backseat when there is a living to be made from a 'day job'. Here's hoping it'll move further to the front on the bus of life.
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