No more apologies

In my last post, When change steals your dreams, I touched on the recent writers’ conference I attended in Las Vegas. Although there were a multitude of takeaways, one I put into practice today: Write. Oh sure, I write when I squeeze it in between tasks or in lieu of watching TV. I write when I’m on deadline or a blog idea rattles around in my white matter. Yet, until the conference, I’ve always felt guilty for shutting out the world while I indulge in what oftentimes feels like a selfish passion. But not anymore. I finally committed to a set [amount of] time each day to devote to writing. Another takeaway is it doesn’t matter what I’m writing, as long as my butt is in my chair and I’m putting words on paper. Even if I’m not laboring over the “next great American novel,” any writing I do is honing my craft, one word—one essay, blog or article—at a time. That’s my dream. No apologies.

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Want … or need?

[Image credit: David Castillo Dominici]

Never give up on something you really want.  
It’s difficult to wait, but more difficult to regret. ~ Author Unknown

There are things I need in life, but only a few things I really want.  However, sometimes I think about throwing in the proverbial towel when timing isn’t on my side.  I wonder if others possess self-imposed deadlines and, if they’re not living the dream by such-and-such date, if that dream becomes null and void.  I’m not a quitter; however, when something appears impossible, I have a hard time seeing past the roadblocks.  And waiting is hard.  Mostly, though, I don’t want to regret: seeing something through to the end (or maybe a new beginning), not giving it my all, negating the time it takes to transition seasons.  No doubt it would be easier if we could pick a date to write Someday in our planners.  But without that option, we must decide if we really need what we want.

Do you really need what you want?

No use crying over spilt milk

[Image credit: Idea go]

Before I left on vacation, I was making my lists and checking them twice and I don’t know how it happened, but something fell through the cracks.  Apparently I had recorded a couple of tasks on the wrong days, which almost affected a deadline.  Thankfully, someone else noticed the oversight in time and things quickly got back on track.  Tasks we perform can become second nature to the point where we rarely give them a further thought.  But this situation reminded me that as together as I may look on the outside, I’m still human. Just like the next person, I find myself distracted, derailed or flustered and say or do things I can only shake my head at after the fact.  Instead of obsessing about or beating myself up over my blunders, however, I’m working on wiping up each mess as I go and moving on.   I’ve got too much to do to get hung up over spilt milk.

Do you obsess over your mistakes, or can you easily shake them off?

B is for blog

[Image credit: Theeradech Sanin]

The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. ~ Jeff Jarvis

My big sister emailed me last week and mentioned I had already written 161 blog posts.  One of my goals for the New Year was to post each day, and although a few haven’t cleared until after midnight in some parts of the world, I’ve faithfully stuck to my resolution.  With a half-year left and around 200 more to go, I’m already thinking about 2013.  At this point, I don’t know that I’ll commit to another blog-a-day, but rather focus on my other writing endeavors, while checking in occasionally and following fellow bloggers.  Blogging daily has been a great way to discipline myself, however.  Although no one else keeps track (except maybe my sister), I like the regular deadline and feeling of accountability.  It also forces me to be more observant, dig deep into my well of ideas and step outside my comfort zone.  Plus, it helps me work things out in print.  For now I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, and in 200 odd days, maybe I won’t just be a little bit older, I’ll be a little bit wiser.

Is there a goal you made for 2012 that you’ve kept up with?