On New Year's Resolutions
Dec. 29th, 2004 06:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenoftheskiesI stopped making New Year's Resolutions last year, and I'm very glad I did.
New Year's Resolutions, in my opinion, are usually not much more than glorified wishes, something we WISH we could do for the coming year. Sometimes, they're reasonable, sometimes (more often than not) they're far out of reach, sometimes, they're even wannabe goals that aren't in our reach for that particular year.
So, starting last year, I decided that goals and life-style changes were more appropriate than New Year's Resolutions. And, if they're real, honest goals, taken in reasonable steps, and changes to my life for the better, they're much easier to reach AND important enough to me to take them seriously and work very, very hard to reach them.
I've already been thinking about what I want to do for the new year, and, of course, I have all those grand, glorious, lofty ambitions I have for 2005. The hard part on some of them is deciding what's REALLY within my reach for next year.
There are so many factors to weigh, especially as I make writing goals. What's reasonable? And what's not? Where am I in the writing process, in the development of my skills, and am *I* far enough along to be qualified to make those decisions?
How does anyone ever know if they're good enough? How does one learn to be objective about one's work?
And, what is objectivity?
I know lots of people have a hard time admitting that anything is wrong with their work. What do you do if your problem is just the opposite? That you feel like you have to constantly search for the problems in order to fix them...so much so that you refuse to acknowledge (or maybe even don't see) that which is right with your writing?
That is probably my biggest problem with my writing. TRUE objectivity. I'm always too hard on my own writing, too quick to criticize, too fast to cut out and cut down. I want to love it. I want to be proud of it. But, I'm not always quick to admit that.
Fear of rejection? Fear of being laughed at? Maybe. Fear of being told my writing sucks? Well, I don't think it sucks. (I don't THINK it does.)
Confidence in my writing is definitely an issue I need to address in 2005, maybe even more so than the writing itself. I think maybe the confidence and objectivity go hand in hand. I think if I learn one (either one), the other will come.
I think.
So many things to consider as the year comes to a close. So, over the next few days, I'll consider. And, hopefully, by the time Saturday rolls around, I'll understand what I need to work on the most for 2005. And, be able to come up with a plan of attack to work on them successfully in the new year.
New Year's Resolutions, in my opinion, are usually not much more than glorified wishes, something we WISH we could do for the coming year. Sometimes, they're reasonable, sometimes (more often than not) they're far out of reach, sometimes, they're even wannabe goals that aren't in our reach for that particular year.
So, starting last year, I decided that goals and life-style changes were more appropriate than New Year's Resolutions. And, if they're real, honest goals, taken in reasonable steps, and changes to my life for the better, they're much easier to reach AND important enough to me to take them seriously and work very, very hard to reach them.
I've already been thinking about what I want to do for the new year, and, of course, I have all those grand, glorious, lofty ambitions I have for 2005. The hard part on some of them is deciding what's REALLY within my reach for next year.
There are so many factors to weigh, especially as I make writing goals. What's reasonable? And what's not? Where am I in the writing process, in the development of my skills, and am *I* far enough along to be qualified to make those decisions?
How does anyone ever know if they're good enough? How does one learn to be objective about one's work?
And, what is objectivity?
I know lots of people have a hard time admitting that anything is wrong with their work. What do you do if your problem is just the opposite? That you feel like you have to constantly search for the problems in order to fix them...so much so that you refuse to acknowledge (or maybe even don't see) that which is right with your writing?
That is probably my biggest problem with my writing. TRUE objectivity. I'm always too hard on my own writing, too quick to criticize, too fast to cut out and cut down. I want to love it. I want to be proud of it. But, I'm not always quick to admit that.
Fear of rejection? Fear of being laughed at? Maybe. Fear of being told my writing sucks? Well, I don't think it sucks. (I don't THINK it does.)
Confidence in my writing is definitely an issue I need to address in 2005, maybe even more so than the writing itself. I think maybe the confidence and objectivity go hand in hand. I think if I learn one (either one), the other will come.
I think.
So many things to consider as the year comes to a close. So, over the next few days, I'll consider. And, hopefully, by the time Saturday rolls around, I'll understand what I need to work on the most for 2005. And, be able to come up with a plan of attack to work on them successfully in the new year.
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Date: 2004-12-29 09:23 pm (UTC)Good luck!
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Date: 2004-12-30 04:11 am (UTC)A good question, but I have no clue. When I'm in a good mood I look at my positive reviews (I actually haven't had any negative ones, which I take as a good sign) and feel happy about my writing. When I'm in a bad mood, I can't help but think about how badly my soon-to-be-ex-publisher has screwed me, and I wonder if I'll ever get another break again.
Then sometimes I read a book and think, "Feh, this sucks, I write better than this when half asleep" and other books make me think, "Oh my gawd I have no hope of ever putting out something as good as this."
So...I dunno. I think in the end I write what I write and that's that. I listen to the people chattering in my head, transcribe what they say, occasionally throw some crap into their lives and watch what they do about it, and then write that down too.
In the end, if it's good and someone else wants to read it and enjoys doing so, that's very cool and will make me happy. If nobody reads it, well, I'm compelled anyway so I don't see how that changes much.