The Past, The Future, and Don Hollinger's Typewriter

It's 2020, so that means I'm compelled to examine the progress I have made in 2019 and use that to determine what's going to take the highest priorities this year.

2019 -- The Year of the Almosts

There was a lot of things I almost accomplished in 2019. I almost hit my goal of publishing four new pieces. I published three, but that was only because much of my time was getting existing projects into better shape, including 53 total poems in Pieces on Wattpad. I almost hit my Goodreads reading goal of 100 books, but I was four short, even with all of the children's books I read. I almost took a vacation. I almost stuck to a strict budget--until the holidays came around. I almost received one last payout from Textbroker before I said goodbye for good, but couldn't quite hit the minimum payout before the requirement to switch to Payoneer. So now $8.16 is in limbo, and it will stay there until Textbroker realizes what a mistake they have made and returns to providing a PayPal option. I'm not holding my breath for that one, but I just can't click the Close Account button with money on the table, as insignificant as it is.

The Inspiration to Keep Going

I would love to say that the past two weeks have been filled with writing, planning about my writing, and more writing, but it wasn't. I was binge-watching That Girl as it expired from Hulu. It's been three days since I finished it and like all good shows, it has left me with a bit of an emotional hangover from not being able to immediately rewatch it, though it is back on television as of today if I need to get back to it. I haven't felt like that since I watched all six seasons of Community three times in a single year.

What surprised me about watching the show was what my brain chose to focus on. There are so many things it could have been: Ann's super-mod wardrobe, her ability to assert independence when the times didn't call for it, the fact that she could afford a super-cute East Side apartment on haphazard pay (similar to a freelancer's life), or that this show has many similarities to Get Smart, aside from both shows sharing Bernie Kopell. No, what my brain decided needed a laser-like focus was Don Hollinger's career. It makes sense. He was a writer.

But that's still not what really inspired a renewal of effort to get back to my writing. It was the dude's super-cute portable typewriter.

This typewriter only appears in like three episodes--and I should know. I watched 138 episodes in fourteen days. I can't get enough of how adorable it is. I'll certainly be on the lookout to buy one someday, but what the typewriter did was get me to think about how much time I spend not writing, and why I can't fill in some of those gaps. Also, it made me think about all the female writer characters on TV, and I had a hard time quickly coming up with a list. It took me ten minutes to remember Carrie Bradshaw was a writer because her lifestyle--considering her employment--was ridiculously fictional. And all of that leads me into 2020...

2020--The Year of New and Exciting Adventures (Fingers Crossed!)

The first project on deck for the year is one of my pilot scripts. Both of the pilots that I wrote first drafts of have a female lead who is or wants to be a writer. I think that it's important to tell these stories, so I'm going to do everything I can to get at least one script to the point where I can receive script coverage. I want to see where I really stand. Hopefully, I can get a recommend rating that takes the project outside of my hands and on to the next phase.

I'm also looking to not sit on content. I do write a lot of content, and often it goes unseen. There are a lot of factors that go into that, but sitting on a short story for a year before submitting (which I tend to do) is not productive. That's not going to happen anymore. I'm going to keep my goal of published pieces at four for the year, but I intend to post a lot more content on Medium this year. I'm going to merge my love for sitting in front of the TV for a little too long with my ability to write reviews.

2020 will also be the year I get more rejection letters. I don't mean that I'm looking for them, but there is no reason I need all of these unpublished pieces sitting around, not being considered.

In terms of adventure, I'm putting myself on the strictest budget my little life will allow so that I can finally do something big--a vacation, a relocation, attending a conference, participate in a residency program. I don't know what it will be yet, but I know that this is the year I have to do something, otherwise I don't know if I ever will. I'm inspired to do great things and I don't want this feeling to subside, so I'm grabbing it and holding it close. Let's hope I don't end up smothering it.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone out there has big dreams of their own and we can all accomplish them together.

Hello, 2017

I didn't mean to disappear for the last couple months. I sat myself down every week to write a blog post, but everything I wrote didn't seem right. I just didn't have much to say. A new year has started. I wanted to title this post The Year of Yes, but Shonda Rhimes apparently got to that phrase first. I have to admit, I still don't have much to say, but I'm working on that--behind the scenes, as usual.

What I have tried to do is to challenge myself. I don't do resolutions, but because I love photography so much, I've decided to do a photo a day for a year. My downfall might be that I chose to use an instant camera, so I may have to switch back to digital at some point.

Anyway, I'll figure that one out. Here's one of the first  shots I took for the year (complete with a little experimentation in color flash filters). Hopefully, I'll get much more creative as the days go by. Otherwise, I'll run out of interesting subjects quickly.

What creative projects have you kicked off in the new year? 

Hello 2016!

It's officially the New Year, so I'm excited about what's coming up in my writing career. A lot of it is still in the planning stages, but I'm trying to find a way to keep myself accountable for daily word counts and give myself reasonable deadlines to get things done. I need something between a day planner and a robot that smacks me when I stop writing. I'll keep working on that...

As usual, I take a little bit of time at the beginning of each year to reintroduce myself to any new readers of this blog that have jumped on this wild ride. I'm all over social media if you want the latest up-to-date information (last year's post is still relevant, so I won't repost all of that). I'm working hard on making my other blogs just as interesting and fun as this one, starting with Showered in Beauty. If you want to see the side of me that gets all nerdy about makeup, fashion and food (99% healthy, of course 😉), then please stop by regularly--or better yet, go ahead and follow the blog so you'll never miss a post.

And I've saved the best news for last: the haiku collection Unfolding Life has been officially uploaded and is available through the Kobo store. So if you own a Kobo and want some poetry to read, go for it. You'll be glad you did.

I hope 2016 is starting out on an amazing note for everyone. I know mine is!

Dream On

The week between Christmas and New Year's is usually where we all make a giant list of resolutions we'll never complete, right? I'm not doing that this year. Although goals are helpful, they don't need to start on January 1. I don't want to enter 2015 totally lost, so I did come up with a way to get motivated without getting caught up in making it into a traditional resolution.

Dream Board -- on the phone so I'll never be without it.

This is my dream board. A lot of people make these just to have a focal point to renew and re-energize themselves in that moment, that day or their whole purpose for life. Mine serves as a way to point me in the general direction I need to go to get where I want to be in 2015. I would like to note that these photos represent very broad ideas. For example, I have absolutely no reason to believe I will ever in my life win an Academy Award, but I do think that I can strive for more recognition for the hard work I do and create better work that is worthy of recognition.

This board will put everything back into focus. I don't want to write that $8 blog post because I think I'm worth more than that? Look at the board. I get frustrated because book sales are in a slump? Look at the board. I get angry because I need help and can't find the courage to ask for it? Look at the board. If it works well, I should be posting photos of my new city, my new job and anything else good that comes my way soon. Hope is not dead over here.

Dreams. They can come true.

2013: What I've Gained and What I've Lost

Facebook can give you your year in review with the highlights from the things you posted. A have to tell you, mine kinda sucked. Because I don't put every success and failure on my status updates (trust me, I would be unfriended with all the whining), there wasn't much to show for this year. In an effort to be a little more grateful for what I have, I've decided that the best way to do my year in review on this blog is to break it down in terms of what I have gained over the past twelve months and what I have lost.

What I've Lost in 2013
*The will to work for pennies. Clients looking for a masterpiece written for just $5 will have to find another sucker.

*Inhibitions about sharing my writing with people I know. While I've always been glad to share my work with strangers, it's another thing to be vulnerable enough to hand it over to friends. Family--I'm still working on the courage to get to that point.

*The idea that dreams fade. These dreams I keep in my pocket aren't fading away--they are just evolving to fit into my life the way it is rather than the way I want it to be.

*10 pounds. Hey, losing isn't always a bad thing. ;-)

What I've Gained in 2013
*Perspective on my career. I can't possibly keep my head down and quiet, yet still find success.

*The will to try. Convincing me to do something out of the ordinary isn't my strongest suit. But I've definitely been trying to try more often.

*Knowledge that freelancing is not as easy as it used to be. I don't think that it was ever easy, but it has been more lucrative in the past. If I have to bow out to concentrate on my writing career, I'm okay with that.

*The vision to see that nothing is impossible--I just haven't found the right path yet.

After the year in review, the next logical step is to talk about all the New Year's resolutions I want to make. Most resolutions are pointless because by Valentine's Day you have given up, and who needs the double disappointment of eating chocolate alone in your room and knowing that you have failed? Okay, so I'm assuming everyone spends that holiday celebrating the same way I do... Anyway, resolutions are not for me. I'm going to set some personal and professionals goals, but they are scaled to my current situation and completely attainable as long as I put in the work. Now if I could just get someone to pay me a salary for being my fabulous self, I would be all set for 2014. ;-)