Forward and Backward: Hello 2019

The past 2 years probably saw me take some of my biggest steps forward with regards to my writing life. I joined the WCYR. I became one of their staff bloggers. I’ve taken on the membership profile posts and I have become more active within the group as a whole. In 2018, I joined a second local writing group and I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. I’ve also been taking an online course from Sarah Selecky. On her website she posted some questions writers can ask themselves: Writing Inventory, Intentions, and Reminders for the New Year

Here are some answers to those questions: 

LAST YEAR:

A pitfall from this year, and how going through it made me into the writer I am now:

A pitfall? The first question and I really don’t know how to answer it. Every writing experience I’ve had this year and all the years before, have made me into the writer I am now.

A success from this year, and how going through it made me into the writer I am now:

A success from this year is the activity on the WCYR blog, The Easy Writer. I like to think that I played a pretty decent part in the increased activity.

Writing milestones. What actually happened, that mattered? What am I proud of doing this year?

(Get out your diary/notebooks and reflect, month by month.)

I don’t have time to reflect month by month, but NaNoWriMo might be the thing I’m most proud of this year.

Now I guess we’re at the “resolutions” part…

NEXT YEAR:

Next year, I’ll stop: Being so critical of myself. Probably not. But I can try.

Next year, I’ll start: Taking more time for my writing.

I want more of: The intense focus I get when I’m “in the zone”. Also, word count.

I want less of: Self-doubt. Goes with the first one, I guess. I also want less procrastination. I need to get the words on the page.

I am totally done with: I don’t know. Nothing? Nothingness?

I am ready, so ready for: A draft that I can show people.

I expect… my words to keep moving me forward.

I believe… I make pretty sentences.

I desire… my children to go to bed when I tell them so that I can keep working on my stories.

REMINDERS ABOUT MYSELF AND MY WRITING

What inspires me, without fail?

A really good prompt.

What grounds me, always?

My children telling me they need me.

What strengthens me, reliably?

My husband? Yoga?

What softens me, in just the right way?

My husband? Yoga?

I promise, I took this very seriously. However, I also have no time. Questions like these, like my responses in yesterday’s post, are often instinctual. They are my gut reaction. Often, from my gut, from deep within the pit of my stomach, is where I find the truth.