Ebbs and Flows

Now Playing: SKYFALL by Thomas Newman

Ebbs and flows--that's how art goes sometimes, no? Feast or famine. Drizzle or deluge. In October-November, I could barely keep up with myself. I had ideas that leaked out into completed stories even if I didn't feel like writing them. Now, I've got three or four good story ideas, and they don't want to leave my brain in search of a new home on paper.

It's been a busy January--moving to Southern California, starting a new job, getting used to a new area, making new friends and keeping up with old ones. And in times like these the first thing that suffers is my writing. The thing is, it's always something you can come back to or do later or do tomorrow. When you're a young writer, without an agent or deadline, you are the only thing that keeps you writing.

My muse is in the mirror. I write for myself, because I love it and because it's cathartic and because I wouldn't be me without it. I'm in the ebb stage now, the famine, the drizzle. Not writer's block--that's something else entirely--just writer's neglect. It's not okay, not a great way to start off the new year or my 2014 W1S1 challenge.

Listening to the Skyfall soundtrack right now, all I can think of is the new M asking, "Now then, Devin. Are you ready to get back to work?" and my response, "With pleasure, M. With pleasure."

New Year: Carte Blanche

Now Playing: ANOTHER SONG ABOUT THE WEEKEND by A Day to Remember
Just Read: BLOOD OF THE FOLD by Terry Goodkind--A solid read, nothing too complicated. This isn't my favorite fantasy epic series but I don't want to stop reading it yet either.
Reading Now: THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I'm looking forward to a great 2014!

I had goals and big dreams for this past year, and they're resurfacing now in the first week of the new year. I wanted to write a new novel, edit an old manuscript, and stay true to my Write1Sub1 commitment of writing one story per month. Each of these goals were (pretty much) accomplished. I did a drawn-out edit of an old novel that cut out several thousand words, wrote in general longer stories than 2012 each month, and won NaNoWriMo to end up with a new 50,000+ word manuscript.

My goals for 2014 are similar--patch up this newest novel and make it presentable, send out some query letters with blessings, and my main goal, to submit more vigilantly than I did in 2013 and give my stories more chances to be published.

The new year is a time to be optimistic. In hindsight, some 2013 goals and dreams fell short--I wanted to publish more stories than I did. But ultimately I don't have control over that--it's up to the slush readers and magazine editors. All I can do is write the greatest story I possibly can, and trust that one day, maybe soon, I will be rewarded for it.

Here's to 2014! Cheers, friends.