Setting Goals for 2010
Every year around this time, I start thinking about my goals and priorities for 2010 in all parts of my life. Since this blog is devoted mostly to writing, I will share my writing goals for 2010 below. Before I do that though I want to focus on why it is important to set goals and to express and share what these are to someone else and not just keep them to yourself.
For a long time, psychologists have said that the practise of writing down your goals on paper and having them visible so that you could refer to them often can really help you to accomplish them. Apparently, this visual representation of your goals helps remind you that these are things that you said that you would accomplish.
New Year’s Presents A Renewal Weekend For Writers
For many the New Year is a time when people “reconnect” with themselves: spiritually, mentally, or physically. They overlook one valuable place. Often, if they multi-task they forget that they also need to renew themselves in one critical area, in this case their work, especially in the case of writers. For many writers, there is no such thing as a holiday or time off. Writers can be critical of taking such time since often it is the only type of way to make or keep money. A time of renewal, however is vital. The New Year is the perfect time in which to renew.
Writing Patterns
There are two kinds of writing patterns that all writers engage in. Patterns that work and patterns that don’t work. Writers seem to develop patterns without thinking and some of these patterns are less than productive for us, especially over time. Developing writing patterns is usually helpful. Writing patterns can help save time and to become more efficient. But not in all cases.
Writers Holding Back Time?
Can writers hold back time? Can writers bring a time long since passed from life? A simplistic answer is a resounding yes, but this answer lacks some power, as there are many non-fiction writers who do not write with an ease that makes a reader long to continue reading their work. Some are more popular now, however their time is fleeting, and others who were never popular in their own lifetimes, yet they are considered masters of a craft that is unforgiving at best.
Time For a New Computer?
Computers, like cars, don’t last forever. Nor would you really want them to. Eventually, the time will come to purchase another computer. And with the options available today, you’ll wonder why you didn’t trade the old one in a long time ago.
Pets and Vaccinations – Helpful or Harmful?
I have had pets most of my adult life. We have laws that require us to vaccinate our pets. Our veterinarians remind us yearly that our pets are coming due again for these vaccinations. I have now had two very bad experiences with pets and vaccinations. One was years ago and it cost my cat his life. One is on-going right now with my puppy, Buffy, currently, and suddenly after having her second set of vaccinations at just 12 weeks of age became lame, had a fever, with all four paws swollen – diagnosis – Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy (HOD). In Buffy’s case it is highly suspected, even by my Vet, that Buffy’s HOD is a reaction to her last set of vaccinations. Are vaccinations, as recommended by most vets helpful or harmful?
Having Faith in Your Writing is Like Having Faith in God
If you write a book, you are going to be monk-like sequestered, but the comparison goes deeper than just the physicality the two endeavours share. Faith means not worrying. That is what can be called a fearless, focussed writer. If you write, at some point, you give yourself over to the process. You let the book write you.
Privacy When Posting Photos On Facebook
All of my family members are on Facebook. It was just a matter of time before I registered too. It’s nice to keep up with what everyone is doing and much easier to post photos once for all to see. However, this is the one thing that I also don’t like about Facebook. The fact that when someone on my friends list posts photos, it’s possible for people that I don’t even know to see them too. Privacy when it comes to the internet and sites like Facebook is something that needs to paid attention to.
Negative Self-Talk and Writing
In order to develop a healthy and enjoyable writing life, we must all learn to curb our habit of negative self-talk before, during and after our writing sessions. Negative self-talk is all of those negative things that we tell ourselves over and over. Negative self-talk can create a lack of confidence and lead to procrastination, or even writer’s block.
Confidence in Writing
Very few writers have complete confidence in their own writing. Even well published authors struggle with their confidence and that usually has a signifcant negative impact on their ability to write consistently. Having confidence means having belief in and trust for one’s own abilty, in this case, to write. Writing is the art and craft of clearly communicating in ways that express what it is one wants to convey. Having some confidence in your ability to do that is necessary for the writer to write.
The Application of Philosophy To Adaptation, Change, and Goal Achievement
The very autonomy that philosophy can give us the freedom to discover and experience is feared by many. We want to be free of our unresolved issues and our pain or discomfort but we are often afraid to part with what is familiar long enough to experience something new.
Developing Habits of the Mind As A Writer
Developing habits of the mind as a writer can mean the difference between getting the writing we set out to do done or not. Habits of the mind are central to overcoming endless distractions and what could become a habit of procrastinating that can produce a bout of writer’s block.
The Legacy of Toxic Relationships
Toxic relationships seem to be pervasive to the point where healthy relationships are in the minority. Toxic relationships are proliferating and have been doing so for the better part of the last few decades.
Writing Requires Discipline
I was reminded of how writing requires discipline by one of my writing friends who called me the other day and was complaining that she hasn’t written anything for weeks because she was too busy to simply sit down and write. She was the inspiration for this blog because I think that so many writers are in this boat. We feel pressured to do so many different things in a day, but usually writing isn’t one of them. And that is okay unless you consider yourself to be a writer.
