I’ve never been one for making New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I think if you want to make a change you should just do it, no matter where you are in the year. But maybe because I’m older, or in a more reflective phase, or maybe simply because a few changes have occurred to me and it happens to be the start of a new year, I’m making some resolutions.
Resolution #1: Write fiction.
Write more fiction, and by more I mean, write fiction. After lots of creative writing in the eighties and early nineties, I drained my fiction well, or something, because I haven’t written a story since about 1994. But I’ve been remembering how it felt to write stories, how I’d disappear into the world I was imagining. And I want to experience that again. Also I have ideas for stories bubbling.
Resolution #2: Write for Megnut.
I’ve fallen into a variety of traps that have kept me from writing here. Aside from the lack of time (which is really a lack of prioritization), the other excuses will be ignored and overcome.
Resolution #3: Have Wants Driven By Need
More production is countered by less consumption. I’ve noticed that a lot of magazines and websites I visit show me things to buy. Mostly they are things I didn’t think I wanted or needed before I saw them in the pages of Martha Stewart Living (as an example, because I find it so blatant there lately, and in stark contrast to how the magazine used to be). I like to buy a thing because I need it. But it’s hard to resist the lure of such pretty stuff highlighted in all the design blogs and magazines, and the curating sites like Svpply and Pinterest. So no more reading/subscribing to media that makes me want stuff I don’t really need (or probably don’t even want, except for in the fleeting moment that caviar sounds like a good idea, or some lovely La Lune print can be imagined hanging over my bed…)
Resolution #4: Read More Books
As I try and escape the magazines and blog posts, I discover I’ve lost my reading muscle. Sure I can handle a gripping tale like the Lost City of Z but there’s plenty of good reading out there that takes a bit of work, effort I used to be able to put in. But I’m lazy now, easily sated by 140 character tweets and 500 word articles. My mind drifts reading a longer book. But no more! I’m reading books this year, as many as possible, until I get back into reading shape.
Is there a Resolution #5? Probably but then I’d get into the usual, all the time resolutions that I live with daily: enjoy time with kids, smell the flowers, get to the gym daily, eat healthy food, cook more, worry less, etc. etc. That’s like my to-do list though. So I’ll start with these four resolutions. Here’s to a year of making more. And desiring less.
I feel I could have written these same resolutions, except for the read more books, as I have been mostly on top of the book reading I want to get done.
If you are looking for a book recommendation I just finished the powerful and beautiful book The Birth House by Ami Mackay. I gave birth at home with midwives and am planning the same for number two, so this book was something that touched on that experience while taking me back to an era I could never imagine having lived through as a woman. I suspect you can relate on many levels…
Also, just wanted to add that your January 2011 posts are some of the best I’ve ever read on your site — poignant, thoughtful, funny and just the sort of anecdotes that remind me that self-publishing on the Internet is worth it.