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It seems impossible that it was exactly two years ago that I last met with my various writer's groups, weekly drawing classes, and my illustration groups. Two years! Since then I've done everything in my power to believe the situation was only temporary and that one day we would all go "back to normal."
Today I realized I won't be doing that any more. And that's not such a bad thing. In fact, it's fantastic!
Moving away from my hopes and dreams for "normal" means that I can be open to change and new beginnings. Best of all, I can do it my way without fear of getting it wrong. In other words, I can experiment. Hanging on to "normal" means being stuck. This year I want to run with scissors.
At the same time, I do want to put my scissors to good use, cutting out a new path of possibility and creative endeavor. Some of the projects I'd like to work on this year with a renewed sense of joy are:
1. Update my website to include my beaded jewelry for sale.
2. Publish The Abyssal Plain.
3. Submit my novel, Ghazal, and my novella, The Seaweed Collector, for publication.
4. Finish the first draft of one new manuscript (not entirely sure yet which one this will be).
5. Continue painting and drawing, but with more focus on working within a specific series. (More about this in my next post.)
6. And of course, continuing with this blog.
2022 is going to be my year of
optimism with no looking back. I'm letting
go of both the good and the bad experiences from the last twenty-four months and I'm looking forward to the future, whatever it brings.
Tip of the Day: Vision boards have always been my go-to way of establishing my goals and plans for any given year. For 2022, however, I want to change things around a bit. Instead of putting together a vision board, I'm going for a vision quest. Rather than searching out a dozen or so magazine cut-outs to represent or symbolize things I already want, I'm going to let the images search for me. I want to discover things I had no idea I wanted or that even existed.
Starting with a blank journal, every time I come across a magazine photograph, headline, or article that speaks to me for even the most trivial or surprising of reasons, I'll cut it out and paste it on a page. I'll let the journal develop like a mysterious road map inviting me into unexplored, but much-needed territory. I can't wait to see what happens--I can't wait to see where I go. Happy New Year, everyone!
