2019 : AWAKEN

What verb would you use to summarize 2019?

For me, that verb is AWAKEN.

This year I’ve written about 10 articles, done 14 presentations all around the Mid-Atlantic, wrote a novel and that isn’t even counting all the sculptures I’ve built over the past year. 2019 has been a year of creativity for me. So why isn’t my verb CREATE?

Simple, this year’s biggest events had nothing to do with creation, they had everything to do with waking up, stop wasting time, let go of who I want to be and embrace who I am. This year I let go of a lot of baggage that was driving me to live someone else’s dream and suddenly, almost immediately after doing that, life got even more amazing.

So in 2020, I encourage everyone, stop trying to live someone else’s dream. Find your own and then do it. Don’t plan it, don’t think about it, don’t wait for it, just do it. Wake up and take action.

Progress Report: [dis]Connection

As of last night, I completed draft 2 of [dis]Connection. Hooray! The page count kind of exploded on the second draft going from 350 to 513 BUT I did a lot of formatting changes that added this this. Some new content was added, a new character showed up (and I’m super excited about her) and some scenes were clarified as well as major themes were solidified.

Lots of changes.

Next steps

I’ve built my submission package to start querying Agents. I’ve built my agent list and am checking it twice and submitting to those open to submissions now / early January.

Also, a few of the characters in this book really shine and are deserving of their own stories. I’ll be starting the second book in this series, currently titled [im]poster, this weekend. The second book is an exploration of discovering who we are and if that person is someone we like or not. I can’t wait to get the next book going.

Sunset but don’t take that as anything deeper than pretty colors.

What about the other projects?

I have lots of other projects going on too that I’ll be working on wrapping up between now and March. My goal is to get 30 submissions across 5 stories completed by March 31st. I’ve changed my submission tracking system to be more focused on all the possible places to submit and then listing which story has been submitted where. This way I focus on the potential of all the places to submit, not just the places I’ve been rejected from.

Snapped at the Bass Pro store on Dec. 23rd

Give Away Results

And the winner is….

Me! Here’s the reality, no one signed up for the newsletter. So why am I the winner? Because a key lesson was learned here, no one was interested in the newsletter which means I don’t have to waste my time with it and you don’t have to delete something you don’t want anyway.

So what do you want? What is your preferred communication medium and what do you want out of it? Tell me in the comments. Would you like more reviews, more tools (like the Story Cubes), more updates on my writing, more stories (like City of Duhr)?

I’ll share survey results in future blog posts.

The picture in question

The Last Gift

Everyone got handmade gifts
for Christmas
last year.
Yours was the last one
I made,
finishing it right before you arrived.

I wanted to print it
and frame it
so you could hang it
beside my other artwork.

I’ll get it for you next week
and drop it off, I said
and then I didn’t.

Too busy
not enough time.

Easter came
and went
and I forgot what
I owed you.

You didn’t ask
you knew I was busy
you tried to help me
where you could.

When you came over
I showed it to you again
telling you again
I’ll get a frame
so you can hang it
and you said:
Whenever you can.
I know you’re busy.

The picture came up
in my Memories
on Christmas.

One year ago today
the gift I made for you
the gift I was too busy
to give you before you died.

This weekend I’ll print it,
I’ll hang it
and think of you
if I’m not too busy.

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Thank you Michelle Kogan for hosting this week’s Poetry Friday round up! Make sure to check out her blog here.

Let me know what your verb for 2019 is in the comments below! Happy 2020 and remember: whatever IT is you’ve been waiting for…stop waiting and do IT. 2020 is YOUR year!