Walter Mosley lied to me! (Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!) Although, If I’m honest, perhaps I can attribute the lack of a completed novel this year on my inconsistent writing discipline. I’m not worried though; I may have bombed the nanowrimo, but I did end 2008 as Poet Laureate of Gambier, Ohio! And hey, 2009 is the year of the Ox! I am assured by those in the know that I will “earn prosperity through fortitude and hard work.” I’m also told in my astrology forecast that “If you work in a creative field as an artist, illustrator, designer, musician, composer, actor, stylist, writer, poet, or in another artistic discipline, Jupiter in Aquarius will help you see unimaginable breakthroughs this year.” I mean, if astrology was good enough for Queen Elizabeth . . .
Perhaps reflection and resolutions are the better course? 2008 Nanowrimo winner Tamara Kaye Sellman offers a series of questions for the writer to consider as he or she composes the annual writing plan. (The what? I think I’ve heard of these. My friend keeps a spreadsheet of projects and estimates time and pages and then just goes down the list. Wow. That’s, like, writerly.) That’s what I need! A writing plan!
Because, who am I kidding? The toughest question Sellman wants me to answer is just too hard to face: Did I clock in enough writing time to feel good about calling myself a writer? Or, as Rebecca McClanahan might phrase it, Why don’t we write our hearts out? In her book Write Your Heart Out, she says “There are so many reasons not to write, it’s a miracle this sentence appears.” She then goes on to share all of the misconceptions about writing that help put it all into perspective when we writers are thinking it’s a good idea to enjoy a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives marathon instead of sitting in the chair. (Hey, I like cheeseburgers!)
Misconception #1: Writing gets done without writing.
Misconception #2: Writers have time to write.
Oh, I know these are misconceptions. If writing got done without writing, I’d have numerous projects completed; also, if I had time to write, I’d have numerous projects completed. Wait. I’m whining, right?
New Year’s Resolution #1: No whining! Shut up and write!
But perhaps what gets us all bogged down is the thinking, not the writing! (Or lack of writing?) Maybe we all need to remember our first time—that kid-like joy we had the first time we made a poem or created a character or wrote a line of dialogue or shared our personal experience on the page. Christopher Simmons interviews designer Amos Kennedy about this very thing in the most recent issue of STEP Magazine. It is precisely the doing of it that makes a difference. Kennedy shares a little anecdote he received from his father:
“I’m not a religious person,” he confesses, “but my father is. I remember him telling me ‘suppose god gave everyone a talent they could live off, not be rich, but [have] enough to live and be comfortable. Suppose that instead of following that talent, you did something you disliked all your life, but you gave to the church, were kind to people and were generally a good person. Well, when you die and get to the gates of heaven, St. Pete’s going to send you down to hell because god gave you a gift, and you didn’t believe in it enough to follow it.’ The pursuit of your talent is your hero quest.”
Me on a hero quest in 2009? I like the sound of that. Sometimes, though, I wish Hunter Thompson would just give me a 4am phone call and wake me up with a cackling laugh and a few swear words. And a double Scotch. To be honest, I don’t know what I’m gonna do this year–that whole “fail to plan, plan to fail” doesn’t quite ring true for me. I’m more of a Holden Caulfield kind of girl. What will I do in 2009 to take my writing to the next level? Will I write? Will I make time to write? Will I follow a plan? Will I sit in the chair and put pen to paper and just go for it?
Holden says, “It’s such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don’t. [ . . . ] I swear, it’s a stupid question.” Even so, maybe I should plug in one or two of these “Top 10 Resolutions for Writers.” Onward I drive to the frontier of writing.