I have always loved Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series. It's a beautifully crafted series, and it made a deep impression on me. One phrase resonated stronger than the rest. She called 31st October, the day of the dead when the year, too, dies.
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| Photo by Julia Kadel on Unsplash |
I think that's a lovely way to describe this time of year, when the world outside is settling down for the winter sleep and the nights are drawing in. It works for me.
In that spirit, I'm making New Year Resolutions, sort of. I fail drastically at Resolutions or any plan that I say out loud or put in a post. However, January, February and March are dreadful months for me. Like many people, my mental health falls off a cliff at that time of year. Trying to start new routines or stick to plans is almost guaranteed to fail. However, if I try to set a new course now, I have a fighting chance. I hit a peak of mental and creative energy in September and I'm still benefitting from that. I may actually get things changed around!
Last year, I chose the word Mindful as the word for a year, and when I remembered it, after the dark of January, February and March and the slow climb up and recovery for the next few months, it started all this chaos. The word Mindful hasn't exactly been peaceful, but perhaps that's not the point. I haven't paid as much attention as I should have to the whole theory of Mindfulness, but I'm starting on a journey to find that, and it's a complicated one. If I stick to Mindful and keep it in front of me, then I believe I've got a chance of finding peace - and, more importantly, writing more and at a higher standard.
I may be keeping Mindful, but I'm also adding Purposeful. I'm looking at writing from different angles and I'm trying to find the corners where I fit. When I sit down at a keyboard, I need to know what purpose this writing is serving. Is it just for fun and my own pleasure? That's awesome and completely allowable. Is it for the werewolf story that's been nagging at the edge of my mind for over a year, or for Kane and his erratic ghosts? That's equally wonderful. It's just as fine to write to find out what I want to be writing, or chase down old plots, or try poetry in strange forms. It's absolutely the opposite of what all the blogs and YouTube channels and articles tell you about how to be a successful writer, but I'm finding my purpose and all bets are off!
To be fair, I've already changed some of my writing habits, and you can see that in previous blogsposts. I'm switching from Wordpress to Blogger, and I'm taking down a lot of the stories that have been on my blog and converting them over to Amazon. I'm also reassessing how I've been writing, and so the usual Monday fiction is likely to disappear, hopefully replaced by regular publication on Amazon.
This time last year, I got caught up in a November writing challenge. I had a lot of fun writing it, I'm not going to pretend that I didn't, but it wasn't what I needed. It took me away from ideas that I've been wanting to develop or plots that I want to work on. This year, I've decided that I'm not going to join a public challenge. I'm easily distracted even without group chats and workshops, and I'm thinking about Mindful and Purposeful. I'm still going to try writing a novel in November, and it's not something that I've got ongoing. The idea fell on me this morning, as a sort of New Year's Day present from my imagination. It may lead nowhere, but I'm currently drowning as I get old stuff edited, polished, tidied, and onto Amazon's metaphorical shelves. And it may lead somewhere after all.
I feel a wonderful sense of adventure as I type this, just before I settle down to my first stint at the new idea. I can't wait to see where it leads and what it means for this year. I hope that you'll be around to share what happens, and I'd be honoured to know what you think.
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| Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash |
