So this blog post was originally slated to come out on December 23rd, 2017, but I was involved in an accident where a person ran a red light and t-boned my car. As such, I haven’t had time to focus on writing up a blog for the end of the year. Finally, the insanity of scrambling to solve my automotive issues stabilized with an eleven hour work day today. So, as I sit here listening to Norah Jones, I am wondering if I should wax philosophical about life and how quickly you can be snuffed out, but I won’t do that. Instead, I will focus on what this post was supposed to be about: the end of my year. I will probably discuss the accident later, but for now, just make sure you have side impact airbags and wear your seat belt the second you get into your car.
Now, let’s get into 2017 for me. Specifically, it was a rough year with a lot of focus on polishing old pieces, reading, short stories, fighting for the oxford comma, and not having time for life. In terms of writing here are some things I did this year:
- Finished Bohr’s Bathos (maybe last year | 2016)
- Polished Bohr’s Bathos (four major revisions)
- Wrote the novella: Gaia’s Revenge
- Cranked out a crap ton of short stories (see the post on my output for dates and times: State of my Writing 2017)
- Got my blog post output up there (over four per a month)
- Increased my Haiku writing
- Started Manuscript 8 (Nasty little nugget – research began at the beginning of the year and is still ongoing with 12,000+ words being written).
- Began a project called Project Grim
- Wrote a screen play with two other writers
- Further defined a two year old podcast and narrowed down what I think it will become
- And probably some other stuff I am forgetting
But what has been important is clearing the fog from my mind. On December 23rd, 2017, I was super excited to have a blog post go out and mention that I hadn’t had a cigarette in two months. While I still haven’t had a cigarette since September 23rd, 2017, I really wanted it to be on that date. Yet, I survived an accident and still didn’t smoke. I dropped booze from my life simultaneously (a beer here or there, but living that clean life yo). And basically straightened out everything that has been a distraction from my writing. Even eating healthy regularly has replaced the five dollar specials from my local bar. Then I began working out regularly and my body is now falling into line with my mind. All of this happened well before my accident, so it wasn’t some “see the white light and fix your life” moment for me. I am just glad I didn’t slip back into old habits due to that event.
Now, I just need to get back to the basics of writing everyday. My goal is to have a schedule that follows:
- Write
- Read
- Edit
- Workout
- Study Italian
- Cook
- Clean dishes
- Spend time with friends and family
- Veg out
Here is to 2018! Fuck resolutions, I plan to keep crushing it and cranking away at this writing thing. Wear your damn seat belt and remember it’s those that you leave behind that suffer.
~Theodore