I had goals I’d intended to achieve in 2015, and I did in fact accomplish a couple of them. For the most part, however, my good intentions were not enough. Among other things, I failed to lose weight, clean out the basement, or get my house painted. I also failed to resume writing regularly.
While I feel kind of bad about those failures, I make no excuses for them. And I don’t feel like a failure for not accomplishing those things. Life has dragged me down a new path, and I am trying to enjoy the journey. I’m taking lessons in oil painting, do volunteer work for a national charity helping cancer patients, and spend as much time as possible with my family. I’ve made a “bucket list” of things I want to do before I die, and started doing them. Finishing my novels is on that list, and maybe this will be the year I do that. Maybe this will be the year I resume writing regularly on this blog.
I don’t know how this year will turn out, but I know that all my good intentions will get me nowhere unless I put in the effort to accomplish my goals. I need motivation to write, and at the moment it is missing.
How do you motivate yourself to write regularly? What goals have you set for yourself for 2016? What’s on your “bucket list” right now?
one of my oil paintings
The Writing Place 
Imagine one day you could no longer see or hear. I felt like that on the day I was no longer able to write. I put aside two-thirds of a novel, expecting to never touch it again. I even stopped reading serous lit out of fear it might take me back to places I wasn’t ready to face. I intermittently stopped serious reading and writing for eight years.
It’s difficult to imagine how someone could abandon his passion until you have walked in his shoes. Even then, perhaps it would remain ineffable. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to effectively explain it to a satisfactory degree.
For starters, I ran from trauma and hid from those who later expressed regret that I offered them no chance to help me. I ran to a remote place and laid low. When I did slowly emerge, I had to answer questions about myself before I could deal with the things that had unexpectedly crumbled around me. I had to understand the nature of my spirit and accept it. I had to become less critical, less self-destructive, and more objective about myself. Even more difficult, I had to define (and redefine) my relationship with God.
I didn’t start writing immediately after I made the most important insights and admissions of my life. Accepting certain truths was a start. Living with and assimilating them took much longer. Returning to writing was slow. But when I realized I needed to be writing seriously, the words I kept inside for so long poured out of me.
I finished two-thirds of a prescriptive nonfiction book before a series of events happened at just the right time to convince me I had to finish my novel. I revised it and eventually wrote a book like nothing I had envisioned. It was chosen by a selective submissions service. I have temporarily left the service to work on building publishing credits, but I’m making progress. I accept it will be hard work, just like the spiritual truths I discovered were difficult and painful. Things of great value are rarely attained easily.
There are days when I don’t write, but they’ve become rare. There are days when I only write a few hundred words and other days when I write for several hours, losing track of time until the herniated disk in my neck causes headaches or other problems.
So, I suppose I had to live (or experience some things) before I could write. Sometimes things don’t come to us when we want them most, but come to us when we need them most. There will be disappointing days, but I will definitely keep writing.
Jeff, our experiences definitely can be motivating factors for writing! Thanks for sharing your story.
My maternal grandmother, who read to me and put catalogs in front of me to do with as I pleased as soon as I could sit up, perhaps has more to do with encouraging my love of reading, writing, and learning than anyone else. She hasn’t painted in years but she was a talented oil painter, like you.
I often struggle with prompts and/or ideas. I can be overwhelmed by an unmanageable plethora or paralyzed by numbing silence. Fortunately, paintings, photos, written prompts, memories, news stories, overheard conversations, simple interactions, and other things can start the flow of words.
A recent trip to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas inspired at least one story directly and lots of other writing indirectly. Perhaps all you have to do is turn intention into connection. Art is a wonderful bridge. Best wishes.
Those are good ideas for developing story ideas. Thanks for sharing what works for you, and for the compliment on my painting!
I treat it as a job. I get up in the morning, Monday to Saturday, sit before my screen, and I know that for the next hours I will only deal with it. Nothing else. I do the same with reading. Though I don’t read as many books as I should, I still manage to read daily for a couple of hours, and by the end of the year I have finished 20-30 books. I tell myself that this is what I have to do if I want to get published, and it’s going to be the least amount of work should I ever get a publishing contract.
Chris, it sounds like you have a lot of self-discipline, which is something I struggle with. For the last couple of years I’ve focused more on reading than any other activity, and average a book every 2 days. There is much to be learned from it, and I agree it’s an important part of a writer’s life. Best wishes to you on your writing endeavors!
Thanks Carol. You too 🙂
Don’t beat yourself up. As Scarlett said, tomorrow is another day. The main thing is making it productive and it sounds like you are. The painting is beautiful. Painting is another form of expression. Sometimes I paint with words, other times with fabric. It’s all good. Here’s to a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2016!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Irma! Painting is a new endeavor for me, but I enjoy it very much. I would love to sew beautiful things like you do, especially quilts, but I lack any talent or patience in that area. 🙂