I’ve had an oddly productive weekend. I say oddly because I’ve not been able to get this much done in a long time.
I burnt out at the end of November. It wasn’t writer’s burnout from NaNoWriMo , but burn out from life. I keep forgetting that November is a tough month to get through, and December isn’t much better. I have a tendency to overestimate what I can get done during before Christmas. Then I mentally beat myself up because I wasn’t able to Make All The Gifts and Write All The Things that are in my head.
I’ve pulled out of the funk somewhat. I know that I have because I got angry and started doing things again. I’ve written a new beginning for Chaos Wolf and am preparing it for submission. I’ve taken on a copy writing job for a friend’s website and have completed the first two assignments. On the non-writing side, I’ve resumed working on some half-finished knit and crochet projects and cleaned up my Ravelry page.
It could be a psychological bump from it being the new year. I’m aware its easier to make changes and establish new patters around an event versus doing it at a randomly chosen time. I’m also aware that it’s hard to keep momentum going forward, so I’m writing up a loose schedule that I hope gives me enough variety to keep me from getting bored or overwhelmed.
I’m also crediting my newly found motivation to an article on the Huffington Post what I will not be linking to. If you’re a writer, I’m sure you have heard about one I’m talking about. Yes, the one where another author complained how self-publishing was ruining the industry. All I could think about where the friends I have who are self-publishing and putting out products that are equal if not superior to some traditionally published books I’ve read.
I also know the loss of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds hit me hard. It reminded me that while we may think we have all the time in the world, we never know when something may happen. So my goal for 2017 is to keep up the productive streak for as long as I can.
I got lucky this year..SADs didn’t hit so hard as in previous years. I accomplished my goals early, did not overspend, overate like a sonofagun and the scales are screaming but my taste buds are happy. With all the deaths in 2016 of people younger than myself all I could think of in December where those ladies on the Titanic that skipped dessert. My youngest in hospital all of December so that was another excuse to stress eat. This is my year…the Year of the Rooster. January is the month when my family members keel over, if they plan on doing it at all. Only resolution/goal for January is keep my pecker up, pray son gets into rehab, stay on diet and lose at least some of December gain and not leave the apartment, save money. I joined Goodreads and take the challenges. I was majorly disappointed last year at what I discovered but joined challenge for 2016. Again, I am so pissed off at Goodreads. I did not know I was so competitive. I don’t think I am but I like to know there is fairness in the game. I thought the point of the challenge was people would actually read the books they add to their challenge. I read 377 books and at least ten of them I skimmed through quickly and didn’t read every word and I felt guilty like I was cheating. I went in to see how the others did and there were people who claimed to have read 1800 books for the year. That is NOT possible…I do not care who or what you are. These people are on the list of TOP 50 READERS. I checked out the books on their daily reading and it is just not possible. They must just be putting in books they would like to read and rating them with stars and marking them as read…despite not actually reading them. There is no point to continuing except I like being able to go to a place and see all the covers of the books I have read in the year. I have always kept a list but it is nice and colourful to see it this way. I started when I was ten years old with tiny notebooks putting down each book as I read it. When I got much older and computers came into being I typed all the books from the notebooks into a master and printed to a binder. So I will likely continue with Goodreads but have lost my taste for the group aspect of it. No one is on the level any more…no wonder Trump got elected despite his flaws and lying. I am currently reading Carrie Fisher’s latest opus..The Princess Diarist and found Postcards from the Edge in my personal library so it is next. I also have her Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic and a copy of the stage production of Wishful Drinking and the movie Postcards from the Edge…I will be spending a lot of time in January with her.
You’re not alone. I over estimate what I’ll get done in December every damn year. Even when I think I’ll accomplish nothing…I get less than nothing done. (I’m talented.) 😀 Kudos to the new game plan. Gurl power!