Dear Me

January 4, 2015

Dear Me,

We are four days into the new year, and now I am sitting down to write to you about my goals for the coming year.  This will not be the only time I write about goals or think about them.  There are also the day job goals and the health goals, but for the writing part of my life that is Bryce Kenn the writer, I have some things that can and should be accomplished this year.

I don't make New Years resolutions as much as I choose a theme for the year.  I have named 2015 the “Year of Awareness.”  I plan to be aware of my surroundings, aware of my physical condition, aware of my emotions, aware of my demeanor, aware of my personal development, and aware of what is on my to-do list.

What the Year of Awareness means for Bryce's writing life is that I want to become aware of myself as an artist.  I have two items in my portfolio that I hope will help me in my quest for awareness.  The first item is a new blog called Snapshots.  On as close to a daily basis as I can, I want to sit down and spend about five minutes describing something I experienced during that particular day.  While I can't make any predictions about how interesting this blog will be to anyone but myself, I hope this practice will help me to realize three benefits:
1.  I will be more aware of my surroundings and activities on a daily basis as I look for a scene to describe.
2.  I will log into Writing.com each day in order to post an entry.
3.  I will hone my descriptive skills as I put over 360 snapshots into words.

The second item is a novella I started last year called Something New.  Sadly this novella has been languishing with only one chapter sitting in my portfolio.  In the coming year, I plan to post eleven more chapters, finishing the novella by the end of November.  I will attempt to keep the pace of one chapter per month.  Working on this novella at a set pace will help me to maintain an awareness of this and my other to-do items and my progress against them.  With this item in particular, by keeping a certain pace and trying to post a chapter by the end of each month, I hope to discipline myself to sit down and write – working on one specific project – and in so doing, reinforcing that writing is what I love to do and that I belong in the lifestyle of an artist.

When I set goals, I tend to fall into the trap of over-promising and then, when faced with a group of tasks that seems insurmountable, I procrastinate or give up altogether.  Hopefully, by focusing on just these two items, I have kept my goals at reasonable enough level that I will not become discouraged.

As 2015 begins, and I set out on my journey through the Year of Awareness, I wish myself the best of luck, and I also extend the same wishes to whomever else reads this letter.

All the best,
Bryce Kenn




Word count:  536