Friday, December 1, 2017

All Is Not Lost


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:



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