The 2018 Process: part one

As I look back over the last year, I'm very grateful for the work I did and those things I got to accomplish. It's a pleasant feeling knowing that a whole year's expectations were well exceeded. I don't get many years like that despite my best efforts.

I got to write a great deal last year. I completed two novels, manuscripts of novels really. They were two opposite processes which I find interesting. I completed Coppertown which took over four years to write. I also completed The Second Door that took 13 days during NANOWRIMO.

I wrote several short stories and several poems, these were all good studies for the larger works, but were healthy nonetheless. I got to complete weekly blogposts which hadn't happened for a few years.

I suppose the biggest feat of 2017 was the number of publications I got. There is no greater thrill for a creative writer than to see a publication with your name on it.

The pursuit of publication is a noble if not taxing endeavor. Being published is what every writer really aspires to do, or else why write? And for me, over the years, it was all I thought about. Incidentally, for many years I planned and planned for my personal pursuit of publication but I never executed it.

Coming into 2018, I can't help but want to exceed last year. I think it's a human desire to be more than before. I can make plans, I can brag about what I've done. I can do more this year than last. But I really wonder two things—can I? and how?

I think the most important aspect of the writing life is the process. I have always preferred the process to the product, and I have always known that the product comes from a well executed process.

So, what is the process?

First, I think it's important to have a few goals in mind. For instance, I have a number of projects I want to write, short fiction, poetry, novels and these blogposts. I also have the normal cyclical tasks of UFM which amounts to four issues, a few book publications and the Pushcart nomination process. And, like the last year, I'd like to have many publications of my own.

Second, I think it's important to have a deadline. Some people can work without a focused end. Some people claim to work better under pressure. For me, I'll only work under pressure.

Third, I think having a schedule really helps. If I planned to write three manuscripts this year totaling 150,000 words, plus say a dozen short story publications, when would I do it? Write a to do list? Schedule out the hours? Probably a little of all of that.

That's really the prep, but that is not the process, not even c lose. The process is actually sitting down to do it. The discipline of the practice, a disciplined practice.

Next time: Setting goals and creating deadlines and schedule