Some Progress

So far, I've made some progress with my writing since the new year began. So it's gotten off to a pretty good start.

I've written in my "morning pages" journal nearly every day. (OK, I admit I skipped 3 out of 14 days, but considering my inconsistency with journal writing, that's good for me!) Morning pages are a tool of "The Artist's Way" program, created by writer/artist/creativity expert Julia Cameron. I wrote a description of morning pages in a post for my old blog, Write to the Finish Line, so I won't repeat it here. But Julia Cameron is like a writing guru to me. I've tried to follow the instruction and advice in her books as closely as I can, and I think it's one of the things that's made me a better writer. I was excited to see a new hardcover collection, The Complete Artist's Way, at the bookstore, so I bought it as a Christmas presents for myself last month. It contains The Artist's Way, Walking in This World, and Finding Water. So what if I already have them in paperback (and I have 2 copies of The Artist's Way - one of them she signed for me when I took a day-long workshop in NYC a few years ago) - when I really love a writer's work I have to have all that I can get: hardcovers, paperbacks, even first-editions and signed copies, if I'm able to get them. I'm like that with bands and musicians too - some of my favorites I have on CD, cassette, and even some older recordings on vinyl, and singles and imports if I can get them. I just like to support people whose work means a lot to me.

I've also worked on new scenes for my current book, What Luck, on the days that I've been off from work. So I wrote on Thursday (the 3rd), Tuesday (the 8th), Thursday (the 10th), and even on Saturday (the 12th) before I went in to work the closing shift at the bookstore. I want to try to stick to a schedule of writing on each day off, and also on the mornings of days that I have to work at night. (Like today.) That would be 3 or 4 out of 7 days each week. I should be able to do that. I'm glad I was able to get right back into the story, since it had been over a month since I'd last written anything new. And I feel pretty good about how the new scenes turned out.

The Wildwood Writers Group has met at Michelle's twice since the year began. Our meeting on the 3rd was our last weekly meeting with Rich. He moved last week, so he could start a new job in Albany. But, instead of being sad about it, we focused on having fun instead - we celebrated his birthday (which was the next day) with sinfully good chocolate birthday cake. And though I already miss Rich terribly, we are all still committed to our friendship and supporting each other's writing. We are going to try to meet in person once a month, and Rich plans to set up an online Wildwood Writers Group for us. I know we'll make it work.

Last Thursday, Michelle and I read our work to each other - we'll be the "Wildwood Two" for now. Michelle gave me good feedback on my new scenes, and I worked on re-writing them on Saturday. I still have to e-mail my pages to Rich, but since I'm somewhat computer illiterate, I need to get Ian to help me with it. Maybe we can work on that tomorrow.

And now I'm finishing my 2nd blog post for the year. I plan to post as often as I can, but I'm making it a priority to write and finish What Luck. As long as I can keep consistently working on my book, writing my morning pages, and writing blog posts, I'll be satisfied with my writing progress during this year.