How Was Your Writing Life In April?

I used this lovely springtime photo poster at the beginning of this first full month of spring. Was it only 30 days ago? Today, we should be saying Good-bye April. I searched and I did find a poster saying exactly that. You'll find it at the end of today's post.

But what is in-between the Hello and Good-bye to April? It's all about Time. Look how very quickly this past thirty days has gone by. What have you accomplished in your writing life during that period? Are you proud of all that you did regarding writing this month or are you wishing you had some of those days back again so you could plunge headfirst into the project you neglected?

It might be a bit of both for many of us, and I do include myself in that. Sometimes, I feel like I'm preaching this and that to other writers but I should listen to myself, as well. When I ask if you did this or that and wished you'd really done this or that, I definitely include me. There is no perfect person nor is there any perfect writer.

We're flawed in various ways. Use of our time for writing is only one on the list. Using April 2015 as a self-check, ask yourself these questions:

1. Did I take full advantage of time alloted to writing?

2. Did I fritter away time I might have used for writing?

3. Did I place other things and other people higher than my writing time? (not to worry if you did as there are times when we all need to do this!)

4. Did I start a new writing project?

5. Did I make at least one submission this month?

6. Did I update my writing records?

7. Did I feel inspired to write this month?

8. Should I set a higher goal for next month?

May is almost upon us and delivers 31 days for you and me to do our best to write, to submit, to gather in the various rewards that might be due us. Set yourself a goal for these next 31 days but remember to make it attainable, not something that is so high in the sky you'll never reach it.

And now, it is time to say:

Should Writers Have A Dream?

I liked the poster above. When we were kids, a parent or teacher might have scolded with words like Stop daydreaming and get to work!  or You need to quit dreaming and get busy! As a parent or teacher, we want kids to keep working and face reality. But perhaps those words sometimes poured water on a spark of imagination that could have been better encouraged into a real flame.

Coming back to today--I think we need to have a dream in our writing world. We need to set a goal that we can work toward. I read a guest blog essay this morning that gave some very good advice. The young woman who wrote the piece is a graduate student in an MFA program with non-fiction her primary focus. She had dreams of writing a book--a memoir--about her two years spend at a religious affiliated college during her undergrad years. 

A professor told her that she needed to learn to write a story before she could write a book. I am in full agreement with that. Far too many beginning writers set out to write a book as their first project. And some manage to do it. That doesn't say how good it will be. I've read many times that your first three book manuscripts should be left in a drawer--or maybe fed to the shredder. Writing a book for the first time is a learning process and not necessarily meant to be a smash hit. A lucky few do manage to achieve it, which makes the rest of us green with envy.

But it's OK to aim high. It's alright to dream about that first published book with your name on it. If we don't have dreams like that, how will we ever arrive there? Dream, set your goal, and then work toward it piece by piece. Those old keywords that I love patience and perseverance come into play here. Achieving a dream seldom happens overnight. It can take months for some and for others, it takes years. The important thing is to not lose sight of your dream. Keep it in mind or put something near your computer to remind you of it. 

I have a dream in my writing world, and I bet you do, too 

Ten Years From Now

One of the younger members of my critique group posed some questions for our members. She's a young mother who teaches full-time and writes in whatever spare time she can eke out. She said she's been thinking about where she will be ten years from now career-wise and with her writing. She'd like to pursue something teaching-related and devote more time to serious writing by that time. But she has some concerns about being able to churn out writing at a faster pace than she does now, about what kind of career opportunities there will be for her.

A few of the other members sent their thoughts on the subject, me among those who did. My first thought when she asked about where she'd be in ten years was that, for me, I'd like to be A. Alive and B. Writing. And I sure hope the writing is more than a grocery list at that time. As long as I have a mind, I know I'll continue to write.

At my stage of life, looking ten years down the road isn't all that appealing, but it is certainly a good question for writers to pose. Have you thought about where you'd like to be in your writing life ten years from now? If you have one publishing credit now, are you satisfied with that, or do you want more? If your writing is anywhere from passable to great, do you want to grow and make it even  better? That would be super-great at the far end of the scale!

In ten years, do you want to be more knowledgeable about the craft of writing? Do you want to share your thoughts in print with more people then than you do now? Would you be happy staying right where you are now in your writing life?

We'll all have different answers to these questions. I hope that your answers will reflect growth in your writing in all aspects. I hope that you'll strive to write better than you do today, that you'll have more published pieces than right now, that your strength as a writer will increase.

Step back and take an honest look at your writing life today, then make a short list of your goals you'd like to reach by 2021. You may not attain all of them, but even reaching a few will show growth. Some of you will go in leaps and bounds, while others will move along more slowly.

Writers have unique qualities and no two will follow exactly the same path. So, ponder a bit on the question of where you'll be in ten years as a writer.

Five Years For Writers

Our grandson, Cole, turned five on Saturday. A family friend made his cool birthday cake pictured above. I got to thinking about what Cole has accomplished in his five years. He learned to sleep through the night, roll over, sit up, crawl, walk and run. He figured out how to eat from a spoon, chew solids and eat a variety of foods, both healthy and not-so-healthy ones. He can write his name, count to 20 and more, recognizes most of the letters in the alphabet. He learned to play soccer, has the basics of swimming and can fish. Quite a lot of learning for five short years.

How about you? What have you accomplished in your writing life in the past five years? Would your list be as long as Cole's? Writers need to keep learning and grow just like infants who  become kids. What if you started writing and never moved from stage one?

2006 was five years ago. What have you written in that period of time? Have you had anything published? Have you increased the amount of time you spend writing? Or has it gotten less and less? Look back at something you wrote five years ago. Do you consider yourself a better writer today?

I know that Cole will keep growing and learning over the next five years. How about your writing life? Will you keep growing and learning during that amount of time? Take a look back over the last five years and then make a list of what you hope to accomplish in the next five. Don't get stuck in 2011.