Trying to get back on the regular Thursday updating.
Today would have been my parents’ 45th wedding anniversary, had my father not passed nearly 4 years ago. Monday marked the 31st birthday my sci-fi creation, even though I haven’t done anything with it in years. I celebrate/honor both, even though there’s not really a “present” reason to do so. But why?
In terms of my parents, it’s not like my mom isn’t still alive, and this date still means something to her, so it still means something to me. And it’s nice to think of the memories over the years celebrating the love that begat me, my sister, and my brother, and led to where I am today. That bears remembering.
But a silly writing thing that has spent more years in limbo than I worked on it? Why delight in that, particularly when something I created 3 months later still endures to this day (and is thus worthy of honoring)? I like to think it’s in part because I love science-fiction as a genre, and it’s a nice excuse to focus on it at the beginning of the year, a reset in life as well as my tastes (as if I need extra reason to do so). But even though it’s been a long time since I did anything with it, there are still threads of it in my current writing, even if they’re hella subtle and only visible to me.
(I know I have over the years posted about this sci-fi series I’ve done nothing with in ages. I’d like to think each year I come up with something new to say about it, but that might not be the case. Please forgive me if the semi-annual reminder has been tedious and repetitive, or just one or the other.)
At any rate, there are future things I’m all but certain of that I can announce, and give my scant few readers something of interest as they step away from this entry. If you recall from my End of 2023 post (for those who saw it), I was unsure what I wanted to do with my 2024 writing journey. To focus on finishing projects I started last year, or to rewrite my favorite completed piece, that was the question. And sooner than I thought I would, I believe I have the answer.
A rewrite was always going to be a chore without a proper deadline, so, as of right now, I plan to use that as my Nano novel for this year (should Nano continue, although my region is likely to survive whatever happens in the rest of the world). But I don’t want to just be sitting around until November with no real idea for what to do, either. So I’m going to use the rest of January to figure out the order, and maybe do some better planning, to finish stuff I started in 2023. It’s like an extended 12 Months, 12 Genres 2: Electric Novel-oo, except I’ll only get through the 3 or 4 projects I started already, and spend more time on each than just a month. I still call that a win, but I guess we’ll see if this new approach results in crossing the finish line this time around.
Obviously, this whole scenario could change before I implement it, but I have nearly 3 more weeks of January to put things more concretely in place, and that is why I feel pretty confident about what’s to come. I’ll have direction, I’ll have focus, and most importantly, I think this will enable me to get some of the fun back in the writing process. And so I lift the remnants of my Frozen Coke to my writing goals, and those for all others in the coming year. Kanpai!