Happy New Year!

For both students and teachers the new year does not begin on January 1, but rather on September 1. And although it’s been a number of years since I’ve been a student and even a number of years since I’ve been a teacher, September will always be the beginning of a new year for me.

So what does  beginning  a new year mean to a writer? For this writer it’s not much different from when I was in school. First it means getting supplies. I still take advantage of the back-to-school sales and stock up on notebooks and folders and organizers. (I love organizers.) In the computer age that means also buying reams of paper and cartons of ink for the computer.

Along with buying new supplies comes cleaning up a work space to put them in. This can be cleaning off shelves and tables with soap and water or cleaning out computer files and getting rid of outdated emails.

Labor Day  also marks the return to writers’ groups, writers’ workshops, and book festivals. Even in this time of COVID, it means gathering together with other readers and writers in celebration of the written word. Whether online or in person, it means connecting with like minded people.

But most of all, the new year means a change of attitude. It’s a switch from “I may do some writing today if I feel like it.” to ‘I’ve got to buckle down and write 1,000 words today whether I feel like it or not.” It means setting realistic goals and forming a strategy to meet those goals.

Today I’m writing my goals here with the hope that by committing them on paper in public, I’ll be more likely to stick with them.

Goal #1: I will finish the century of poems I’ve been working on  by Jan. 31. I still need 35 more poems to make it complete. That means I must write 7 poems a month for 5 months or 2 poems a week. Is it realistic? I think so. If I commit to working on it every day.

Goal #2: I will finish the rough draft of Voices in Mt. Hope Cemetery by Feb. 28, with the expectation that I will have revisions done by May 31 and publication by Oct. 1.

These two goals may seem contradictory since I will have to be working on both projects at the same time, but I like having more than one work in progress. When I get tired or frustrated with one, I can switch over to the other. When I first started writing, I committed myself to sitting down at the computer to write for one hour a day, every day. That means not checking Facebook or answering email. It means doing nothing but writing. I tell myself that it’s okay if what I write that day is terrible. The important think is putting words on paper. I can revise later. Along the way, (especially during the summer) I’ve let that discipline slip. Today, I’m re-committing to that hour a day. How about you? What will you do during this new year?