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.