Set three writing goals for the new year.
1. continue journaling on a regular basis
2. Write creatively for at least 30 minutes every day, with the goal of finishing another story!
3. keep developing story ideas, plots and characters
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. -- George Bernard Shaw
I started laughing when I saw this quote. I know I am not going to be rid of my family skeletons and when I think about it, I wouldn’t want to be! There are so many ideas for stories in the family closet, and all those skeletons could do one heck of a dance! If I could get myself organized enough, I could actually write the steps to the skeletons' dance.
Drinking runs all through my dad’s side of the family. It’s not something to be proud of but there are stories there. I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and one reason I did is because the father’s battle with alcoholism was so real and close to home. So were the observations of the book’s heroine, Francie. She kept a journal and kept accounts of her father being “drunk” only she wrote that he was “sick” again.
I had a great-grandfather who was a lighthouse keeper for years on Long Island. I found out, though, that he used an alias when he was at the Fire Island Lighthouse. I wondered why he would do that and my uncle speculated it might be because he wanted to have a woman out there with him who wasn’t my great-grandmother. Ooops. Switch the time periods around a little and that would make a very interesting story.
There’s only a couple of books that I know of that have deaf characters. Just one focuses on the hearing child. It’s called In This Sign. There are some similarities between kids that grow up with deaf parents, no matter what the era is. Some experiences are very unique.
So I guess I ought to start airing out that closet.
PAST: Share with us one good and one bad thing about this past year.
One good: spending a lot of quality time with TB
One bad: TB got hurt and had to have surgery … twice!
PRESENT: Which direction are you headed as the new year begins?
Hopefully in a healthier, more fit direction! I also hope I’ll be able to use my creativity much more productively!
FUTURE: What will you have accomplished by this time next year?
I certainly hope I would have lost weight! Even if not, I would hope to be in shape physically … low blood pressure and able to walk an hour without getting tired.