My Theme for 2024 - FINISH

For many years now, I spend some time the last week of each year looking for a word to inspire my upcoming journey.  I try not to let my mind pick one rationally. Instead, I let the word bubble up from my heart.  Sometimes it is one I expect. Other times it is a surprise. 2024's word was unexpected, but I could quickly see the truth of it.  For 2024 my focus will be to FINISH!

Over the last 3-4 years I have worked at bringing new life into my writing. After more than15 years in the industry, I felt my work was getting predictable and stale. I could produce content without fully engaging my heart, and that wasn't good. So I joined a writing course series I have almost completed. I began to read and write poetry which proved a wonderful new way to express myself and to bring more imagery to my work.  And in November I signed up fof NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) and began creating my first fiction book - a murder mystery.

I joined a group called Author Nation. Here I have access to tons of information, great coaching and much needed peer support. There is a Monday morning zoom writing session I attend if possible as it sets the tone for my week. There are author journals where at the first of the month we post our goals for that month and get feedback on them to help us fine tune them, and to make sure we don't set ourselves up for failure by setting the bar too high, or putting too much on our plates. 

The other focus over the last few years was to develop a habit of showing up daily to write.  It took reading 2 books on habits - first The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and then Atomic Habits by James Clear - to finally figure out how to implement this.  Now I get up, have a coffee while connecting with friends and reading the news, then I head to the computer and write. Each day is different. Sometimes I write for 20 minutes. Sometimes for two hours. And sometimes that time is spent sending and processing email interviews to publish on my blog. But no matter that days focus I show everyday and do the work.

What these steps have all led to is my creating a large body of work. I have written and written and written. Some were articles published in magazines and chapters for collaborative books, some were shared on my blog, or were written with future books in mind. I am buried under articles, interviews, poems and stories.  What is missing from the equation is finishing.  I haven't published a new title since before the pandemic began. 

I am sitting on tons of content to be sorted through.  I have written over 60 original poems. I have chapters written for several book I have in the works.  And I have about 1/3 of my first fiction book written. It's time. For 2024 my goal is to change my focus from just showing up and creating. I am adding finishing to the equation. It's okay to like to write a variety of material to keep my writing fresh, or to keep from burning out. But I need to take one of the many projects I have going and focus on taking it across the finish line. 

This sounds easy, but it isn't. When you write content without a clear image of the book it will go into, there needs to be a lot of re-writing to tie all those individual pieces together into a cohesive unit.  And I have been learning the art of poetry as I go, so many early poems will need serious reworking and polishing.  No worries - I am up to the task and have tremendous support to help me keep my focus. 

I declare 2024 the year I not only show up to do the work everyday, and expand my writing to keep it fresh, but the year I also take the next step and work to publish something.  Now that I have put this out in the universe, the pressure of accountability starts to kick in. It's not a secret. I have made a public declaration of my intent.  

Have you thought yet about 2024 and what your hopes and dreams are?  I'd love to hear them. We can then become accountability partners.