2017 - did it work for me?

It's traditional to keep spend the dark days of midwinter reflecting on the past year, the good, the bad and the indifferent. It's good to take an objective view of life past from a bit of a distance and learn from it. When it came to reviewing whether my writing resolutions of 2017 had been effective, I found myself a little taken aback. I'm not sure I kept them, but the result of focusing on what I wanted to achieve, may have made a difference.

I had resolved to write less, but better, which might lead to my finishing a project and maybe having something published. 

I ended up writing more than ever, getting better as I went along, and having work published. Better still, I was being paid for my work.

Conclusion, a good year for writing.

But. There's always more to do. When I started the year last January, I put aside some projects that I had been mulling over for ages and decided to concentrate on just one or two.  I made some progress but then found new challenges came along, unexpectedly. Having wasted too much time lacking self confidence and keeping my head down, I decided to say "yes" to every writing opportunity that came my way. It made for a busy year and I can't say everything was successful but here are some of the highlights:

1. One short story only written in 2017. But it won the Gibraltar Spring Festival Short Story Competition. 

2. Only five poems written in 2017. One of them came in second in the Gibraltar Autumn Festival Poetry Competition.

3.  Made a little progress with a non-fiction book I'm writing in collaboration with another writer; less than we'd  hoped but progress is progress nonetheless, and we're in a better place twelve months later to accelerate the writing in 2018.

4.  Wrote the content for a number of commercial websites, developed blogs and social media posts for several clients and had a good number of articles, features and reports published in magazines. This latter was particularly exciting. It is something I have wanted to do for some time but was very slow in getting off the ground.  In the end in needed focus and a bit of self-confidence and some helpful people supporting me. 

5.  Added proof-reading and copy-editing to my skills base, and I found out that doing these can help you develop as a writer as well as improve the quality of the publication you are working for.

6.  Started to keep a journal for jotting ideas which I may be able to use in the future.

7.  Read some of my poems out loud in a local poetry night - loved the experience, which led to a story session in the autumn, and which was also good fun, affirming that telling stories is as essential part of living in a community, of being human. 

8.  Attended the Gibraltar International Literary Festival and met other writers and learned the importance of story to identity. Gibraltar needs writers to write its stories; the stories of Gibraltar and Gibraltarians, by Gibraltarians. Mark Sanchez' talk was inspirational.

As a writer, 2017 exceeded expectations.

Plans for 2018?

• Keep writing.
• Keep sharing my writing with others.
• Network with other writers, for personal support and also because Gibraltar needs writers, now especially, as it formulates a renewed sense of its identity.
• Keep learning from others so that I can make my writing better.

Roll on the New Year!

The Right Resolution for Writing

It's taken me a good week or so to think about what I want to do in 2017 as a writer.  Usually, New Year finds me in a froth of ideas and to-do lists as I aim for more projects than I can actually achieve.  By spring I have usually given up on most of them and by the end of summer, I am utterly dispirited again.

My usual way of thinking goes along the lines of: "I must write more; I must find more time to write; I must settle on a better place for my writing, conducive to intelligent thought; I must enter some competitions; I must start that novel; I must finish that novel....." This last one has been on my list of resolutions for years.

I also usually try that little trick of SMART goals.  But these just remind me of being at work, appraisals and all that capitalist productivity mush.  I cringe every time I see this expression.  So if I cringe, I avoid.  Never mind SMART.  This year I'm going to use good sense.  And that starts with that sixth sense that we don't always use enough - gut instinct.  If it makes me cringe, I will abandon it.  That goes especially for my writing, however precious I might feel about a particular paragraph.

So 2017 is going to be different.  Out with the old, outdated idea that I must write more.  This year, it's all about writing better, going for quality rather than quantity.  So my list has gone from about 30 items exhorting me to produce thousands of words per week, to these three.  

• Get a piece written - everything, including warm up paragraphs, is to get written down.  One idea at a time.  One story at a time.  When one is finished, then write the next.  I frequently take on so many writing projects I can only progress them one paragraph at a time and then  nothing gets finished.  Not this year.  I am shelving everything except the one idea that excites me the most.  When that is over, I will start on the next one.
• Get fussy about revision - I will not hold anything sacred, especially those warm-up paragraphs, or, in my case, pages.  Write them, then get ready to delete them.  Be tough and above all don't be precious.  Writing is for reading and readers don't tolerate easily a writer's self-indulgence. Leave aside all those unnecessary words -'very', 'really', 'incredibly', 'huge', 'most' - in fact, avoid hyperbole altogether.  In fiction, it makes me cringe (so it's got to go) and in non-fiction, it usually reflects a lack of depth and critical analysis (unless it's what the client wants - always produce what the client wants, it's good for the bank account).
• Write for a clear reason - write to inform, to inspire, to tell the story that is burning to be told.  Writers don't often understand why they want to write, what it is they want to write about or even what they want to achieve from their writing.  But there is no point to burbling.  Once you are clear what you want from your writing and what you want from your reader, then write.  Until that is ready, it is just another idea mulling about in your mind.

For me, in 2017 less is more and quality seriously supersedes quantity.

What do you think?  Achievable?  We'll come back to this in the summer, see how things are going; i might just find my work heading for this place!