December
2017 Blog
All Is Not Lost
Although
the future is never guaranteed, at least the illusion of it appears with the possibilities
of redemption.
Saving
Grace: A Haiku
E’en
as this year is
Weighed,
found wanting, the next looms
On
the horizon.
Besides
surviving the year (so far), on my very short list of accomplishments in 2017
have been the posting of my daily Haiku daily and the posting of my monthly blog
monthly.
As 2018 looms, I feel the need to plan for
a much brighter year with a far longer list of finished projects.
Perhaps the new year will be my “year of
the charts”. Maybe such visual reminders will help me focus. I might even get
some of those tiny star stickers they used in schools to reward students for
their good behavior. (We were such suckers for those little gold stars.)
In addition to making charts and schedules
this month for use next year, I need to finish the manuscript for this year’s
NaNoWriMo ( https://nanowrimo.org ). I managed 54,000 plus words and another WriMo win. Now,
during NaNoFiMo ( http://nanofimo.net ) I’ll write another 30,000 words for a good-sized novel I can
edit in January and February for publication in the spring.
Hopefully, 2018 will usher in a kinder,
more gentle world, but I hold little hope for that. 2017 has seen an incredible
amount of inhumanity among humans – both toward themselves and the other
inhabitants of this Earth. Actually, we haven’t been very kind to the Earth itself,
and Mother Nature has taken us to task for it.
Climate change deniers aside, even
believers are not doing enough to right the wrongs we are daily heaping upon an
Earth that is nearing the tipping point. Once past that, it is my understanding
that nothing we do will reverse the damage we have done.
In my lifetime, the world has gone from the
brightest of all possible futures to the bleakest of all scenarios – from
unlimited riches available for all industrious peoples to a dystopia where
there is no hope for the future of the world or its angry, angry populations.
We have managed (in the span of seventy or
so years) to send an Earth that has survived for millions of years into a
tailspin that will leave it desolate and uninhabitable for any form of life.
Thankfully, I will not live to witness its demise, but future generations (and
not too distant future) will experience the ravages of the sun and the storms
that we have only begun to feel.
This is starting to sound like a dystopian novel.
I’m starting to get an idea. I need another sequel to “The Chronicles of
Acqueria”. I’m sure I can work in a lot of mayhem and destruction. After all, the
not-so-dead volcano its inhabitants are sitting on has hinted at its own
resurrection. I could have a few villains help it along.
Oops, there’s that shiny object distracting
me again. Gotta love all those shiny objects, but they do take a toll on my plans
and objectives.
I need to find a way to incorporate all my
new shiny ideas into my charts, plans and schedules so I don’t have so many
loose ends out there. I keep tripping over them. Then I fall down and have to
start all over again.
Distraction, thou art mine enemy. But
really, where would a writer be without new ideas? I simply have to develop
some discipline to keep progressing and actually finish some of these myriad
projects I have started.
So far, for next year, I can anticipate to
continue my daily Haiku and look forward to publishing at least three
collections of same.
I also look forward to continuing my
blogging on a regular basis. See, I have developed some sense of discipline. I
must also release my darlings into the world and let them live lives of their
own in the hearts and minds of my readers. My favorite people in the whole
world. The people I love to share my ideas and my stories and characters with.
I must remember that I write not only for
myself, but for my readers, too.
Oh wait, the characters in my head have
just reminded me that I write for them – to give them life and being outside of
myself. They are becoming very vocal. So before I’m accused of being
schizophrenic, I better give them their own lives. There, that should keep me
on track.
But then, there’s…
Until next
month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. I love to
hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts,
if you care to share your thoughts with me there:
