First of all this is not a Xmas celebration. I don't do Xmas. It an end of the year event that Julie has mastered since 2012. Julie is an author, lecturer, teacher, and my one and only jump-starter for writing. Each year she helps writers get off to a good start by helping them to remember their accomplishments not their failures. That is why this is not a resolution.
Julie says, "I believe the reason resolutions often don’t work is because they start from a place of lack, of negativity, of failure. We think about all the things we weren’t happy with in the previous year and set out to “fix” them in the new one."
I totally agree. 2019 was not a good writing year for me. I didn't submit anything. I didn't keep up my blog. I didn't meet any of my writing goals. There was too much depression and too many things out of my control. I could stay in my little world of fog and failure for another year, and I believed that I probably would. However, at my lowest point, I received Julie's email that reminded me about her Revolution. So in spite of being lost in the fog, she has encouraged me not to look at my failures but at my successes. I have to admit, this was an all day, 5 day, process because I could not think of one success for the entire 2019. I had to change my thinking--and then, and only then, was I able to see a tiny light through my mental writing fog. My successes are not huge, but they are mine and here they are:
Julie says, "I believe the reason resolutions often don’t work is because they start from a place of lack, of negativity, of failure. We think about all the things we weren’t happy with in the previous year and set out to “fix” them in the new one."
I totally agree. 2019 was not a good writing year for me. I didn't submit anything. I didn't keep up my blog. I didn't meet any of my writing goals. There was too much depression and too many things out of my control. I could stay in my little world of fog and failure for another year, and I believed that I probably would. However, at my lowest point, I received Julie's email that reminded me about her Revolution. So in spite of being lost in the fog, she has encouraged me not to look at my failures but at my successes. I have to admit, this was an all day, 5 day, process because I could not think of one success for the entire 2019. I had to change my thinking--and then, and only then, was I able to see a tiny light through my mental writing fog. My successes are not huge, but they are mine and here they are:
- I wrote something everyday--sometimes it was only a paragraph, sometimes it was a diary entry, and sometimes it was a list of all the reasons I had to end my life by jumping off a cliff. (I told you, it was a year of depression)
- I kept up with almost all of my daily check-ins with the most encouraging and non-judgmental group of writers I have ever known. That check-in is what made me write each day, so that I could maintain my honesty.
- I revised the outline, introduction, and first chapter of a MG novel I had set aside.
- I finished revising two picture books to the point that I am ready to submit.
- I did not delete this blog and write myself out of the writing picture.
- I made school visits.
- I encouraged my 15 year-old granddaughter to write--and she has now completed 3 episodes of a script that has rumbled through her mind all year.
- Finally, I asked my doctor for help to climb out of the darkness.
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