In the Beginning

As a novice writer, it seems appropriate to begin my blog by emulating the experts. I've noticed that the trend seems to be a twist on traditional New Year's resolutions, centering them around writing goals. To me, I've always had a love/hate relationship with writing: I struggle with the process, yet I love the sense of accomplishment I feel when I'm finished. Therefore, my writing resolutions are ways to help me kick-start myself with writing:

1. Write each day. This seems like a "duh" resolution to me. Writers need to write, right? But, it's so easy to let life get in the way. So, my goal is to write, even if it's just a little, every day, no matter what. Even with my children begging for another cup of water before bed, even with my psycho cat running up and down my desk, and even with the half-finished novel sitting on my nightstand calling my name to finish reading it.

2. Let myself write crap. I'm the kind of writer who has an inner struggle with being able to move on to the next sentence without being 100% satisfied with all that has come before. What does that do to a writer with very limited time to write? Very little gets written. Instead of continuing this habit, I'd like to embrace revision, to recognize that I'll have plenty of time later to polish what I've written.

3. Adopt an "I can do it!" attitude. For far too long, I've resisted the urge to write a novel by convincing myself that it'll just end in failure. But, you know what? I can do it. Thanks to the motivation of NaNoWriMo, I've completed a first draft of my novel. Now, I just have to remember to push back that fear and self-doubt as I attempt to find an agent. Of course, I hope this is just the beginning, that I will continue to write other novels, never giving in to my lack of confidence.

And there I'll stop. After all, I'm just a novice. Wish me luck!