2017 Goals – Darker and more Consistent

 

Distractions. Procrastination. These two words consistently show up on my blog. I think many writers and aspiring authors struggle with these two concepts. Always finding something else to do while the writing waits patiently to be finished… or to be started. We’ve all heard the call to write. We have all read quotes from authors we look up to. We’ve read and perhaps even written blog posts that speak to us about not writing enough, about being consistent – Stephen King wrote every day, why don’t you? Then we feel the guilt-fueled inspiration to dig right into it, and it works for a while but a few days, perhaps a week, or month later it’s back to having the desire but not the will to write. In all honesty it sucks.

Consistent Writing

This isn’t some “New Year, New Me” fad that I discover later on to be nothing more than a short lived emotional spike that dwindles back to the reality that I’m the same person this year as I was last year. It’s a goal. It’s an island in the sights of my spy-glass and I’m rowing towards it with purpose. There may be storms and there may be smooth sailing but at the end of the day, I’ll pull up to beach as I arrive on the island. If I stop rowing, I may eventually get there but it will take much longer and perhaps drift me off course. If I keep rowing, if I keep writing, I’ll get there faster.

Darker Writing?

I’ve dabbled in a number of genres from romance to fantasy to political thrillers and other interesting genres. It’s been fun and educational. Yet those genres don’t click with me like the horror genre does. In fact, I lost quite a bit of the spark that used to fuel my horror stories and that’s something I’m still at two minds about. Nicolette Stephens, owner of Chasing Dreams Publishing, a writer and a good friend to me, said this about one of my stories,

“If you’re going to write horror, you need to actually embrace it, rather than holding back for fear of it being too dark. Otherwise it blunts what could be a very sharp edge.”

It’s fantastic advice, and is the reason I trust her without question regarding my written work. It’s not gone completely, if you’ve read my Friday Fiction shorts you’ll see I try and add an element of it, but it’s not really horror is it? Not at the right capacity anyway. Horror was the first real genre I fell in love with both reading and writing. It will probably continue to do so for a long while still.

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Lot’s more happening in 2017. This week will be updates and getting back into the regular flow of things so you’ll get to be with me on this journey. Nonetheless, what are you goals for 2017?

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