Writing is hard.
Writing with a kid is maybe ten times harder.
Writing with two kids/babies is, I don’t know, so exponentially hard it is near impossible. I don’t do all that much housework and I employ the TV and still … I could easily be completely worn out, exhausted, mentally dead while also getting absolutely zero writing done. Sometimes I claim victory if all I did all day was get some food into my stomach.
But I’m tired of this being the way of things. I am tired of thinking of characters and plots and settings only in the 45 seconds when I am in the bathroom (with the door open and light off in a usually unsuccessful attempt to hide my whereabouts). At the beginning of the year, I set the goal to write 12 new stories this year. I am trying really hard not to call this a new year’s resolution, because we all know that those things never work out. So, it is just a goal.
The particulars:
1. 12 new stories. But anything counts. Some of them might be awfully short.
2. Participate in nanowrimo again, even if I think finishing will be impossible. I have done this for the last five years, except for 2012. The gassy baby and the unruly toddler and the general “holy cr*p!”-ness of my life just made me depressed when I started thinking about word counts. But this year, I am just going to try it out and see what happens with hardly any expectations. I know some people think writing a novel in a month will lead to writing an actual novel and getting it actually published. Instead, I try to think of it as just a way to get some thoughts out that will be good bones to build on later. I could probably write a lot more on this. Let’s just say for now it feels like a good exercise.
3. Follow one story all the way to the end. I am not entirely sure what I mean by this, other than I really want to finish something. “Finish” meaning … a story that I consider to be done, no longer a draft; a story that other people have read; a story that I have edited and fixed up; a story I am sending out for publication. Publication is where I really fall apart. Sending out query letters is equivalent to sending resumes into a black hole; I hate it. But I am going to do it.
I currently have drafts for five new stories. Technically, I am on track. Hey, that is a pretty good feeling.
