In terms of personal goals, 2023 holds a lot of lofty ones for me.
For example, this will be the year that I finish writing my novel. You’ll notice I didn’t say publish. I know that is too far off, but finishing writing seems achievable.
It’s not my first novel. Actually, it’s my third, and I still don’t consider myself an author. You need to be published first in order to take on that word, and I, my dear readers, am nowhere near that goal. I first wrote this novel, with an idea that came to me as I was looking at some open houses at the time. This was early pandemic, folks. It took me months to write the first draft, and then a few things happened:
- I started a new job that required more attention than ever before. Which meant that I needed to accept that I would have less time to dedicate to my own personal writing.
- As the pandemic progressed, and my TV queue expanded, my energy and commitment waned as we all dealt with a sort of mourning period of our pre-pandemic lives.
- I suffer (past and present tense) from back issues that make it harder for me to sit for long periods of time in front of the computer. Since I’m already doing computer work for my day job, and since the act of being in front of a computer is the cause of ergonomic and back issues, that’s where my personal writing sacrifice was hit hard.
As nearly half of this year has passed, and recent events made me rethink my life goals, I’ve been seriously thinking about what I want to accomplish. And even throughout all these years, the one thing that has remained constant is my goal is to publish a book.
I’ve already written my book. Now it’s time to take that extra step and edit it, then publish it.
No more negative thoughts about what I’m not and why this is not my life and only the lucky get published. It’s time for a mindset shift. I have put in enough time, energy and daydream hours in this notion that I would be a published author one day. I’m not going to wait until I’m retired. And that’s what I hope to accomplish with this blog. A sort of accountability to help me achieve my dreams. And along the way, I want to share my progress, lessons, writing tips and tricks. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. That’s about 416 days of dedication and practice. Considering my first Nanowrimo was back in, like, 2015, I have been writing for fun for years. Now it’s time for me to dedicate my time to become a published writer. That means there are things that I have to let go. The fear. The judgment. The idea that I’m not a good writer. I’m not an expert, but I love to learn, and I want to learn all that I can in order to be a success.
Would you like to join the journey with me?