Ahh, the turning of the year. Tis the season for dissecting the year past, and planning the year ahead. Cynicism, guilt, hope, and optimism make an unlikely mix at this time of year. Everyone is looking back, or looking ahead, or both. Kit Campbell can’t believe 2013 is gone. Erin Zarro has some big dreams for 2014. Siri Paulson is on vacation.
Me? Well, I’m living up to Kit’s proclamation that creative types get a little wild in the resolution department. I’m resonating with Erin’s rejection of fear in the new year. Mentally I’m vacationing with Siri.
Ahem.
I’ve always aimed for a life without regrets. I don’t want to be that person who didn’t spend time with her kid, who didn’t read the books she meant to, go back to college when she had the chance. No, I tend to go for those things, do them when I’ve got the money and then stress about being broke (I never said it was a perfect system.) But I’ll tell you what regret does hit me at the end of every nearly every year.
Every December brings the accusing question of “Why didn’t I write more?” I look back and see I spent God-only-knows-how-many hours on the internet, I slept way more than I probably needed to, but I didn’t write as much as I could have. Why? Why don’t I have any new books done?
The fact is, though, that the method of tracking progress that I’ve used for, basically ever, is no longer valid. Wordcount no longer has much relevance to my productivity. I’ve published four novels through TDP, but I still have eight complete novels in the backlog. How can I claim MOAR WORDS as the goal, when I have all of those to deal with?
I don’t like the change. Editing is just not as satisfying, not to count, anyway. Wordcount is fun. Wordcount is obvious. You don’t have to explain “I wrote 150,000 words this year!” but try telling someone you spent 300 hours editing. It’s not thrilling to other people, and it’s not thrilling to me. Counting hours spent editing, to me, feels like counting hours spent fixing that thing I broke because I wasn’t paying attention the first time. I know it’s not true, that editing is absolutely and utterly necessary, but it’s how it feels.
Editing, however, IS necessary. It’s a requirement, or all these books I wrote sit around amusing only me, while the number of cats living in my house mysteriously multilplies. I’ve got to get these books done. I’ve got to get them out.
So yeah, my plan for the new year is “EDIT MOAR.” Get more of these books edited and out of here, so I can write more.
Because that’s what I always want to do. Write MORE.
What are you going to do MORE in 2014?