Dear Me - 2017

Dear Me,

Wow! 2016 was really a tough year, but you made it! Congratulate yourself for that! Many others would have given up, but not you – you are not a quitter. You never have been.

I am amazed at the strength of your faith – something that many people do not have. You have seen the worst in people, and yet still believe that there are still good people in this world. Many people would have given up on God after going through what you have been through, however you have perservered.

You have so much you want to accomplish in 2017, and I have no doubt you will accomplish all you have set out to do. But in this letter, I want to concentrate on your writing goals for 2017. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Begin each day with your devotional, your prayers and your Life Journal. Begin each day with your Father in heaven, and you will not fail in your endeavors.

2. Set aside time each day to write in your Creative Journal. This will be a great way to keep track of ideas that come to you when that nasty monster, Writer’s Block, tries to attack you. Refer back to it often.

3. Finish polishing your poetry and making it better. Work on staying away from rhyming stanzas and work more on flow and rhythm. Work on painting a picture with your words.

4. Finish your manuscript of poetry titled Footsteps Through My Mind. Get it polished up, organized and ready for submission. Think of it this way – the manuscript is almost finished anyway – just a little bit of polishing it up and it will be ready!

5. Finish your manuscript, Celtic Dream Catcher! Most of the poems are already written. You can polish them up, compile them together, and that will be ready to submit!

6. Do your research and begin your submission process. Make sure you do thorough research! Otherwise, you will be in for a lot of disappointments.
7. Finish editing and rewriting Not That Different. Again, you already have the first draft done! A little bit of polishing and it will be ready to go to the publishers as well!

8. Now that you are back on WDC, start getting involved in the site as much as possible. Enter contests, open a C-Note shop, take classes, do whatever it takes to be active on the site each day.

9. Finish working through Write-a-thon the first time. Then work on it a 2nd time. Then a 3rd time. I would love to see at least 3 brand new books this year.

10. Set other goals for yourself and track your progress on those goals – even if you aren’t published this year, you will be able to track your writing journey and see how far you go!

Make sure that you have personal goals as well – goals to improve your health, goals to build your faith, goals to make you happy as a person…not just writing. You are so talented in many things…but don’t try to be perfect or you will make yourself miserable.

Remember, 2017 is a year of victory and a year of success, but it won’t come if you don’t chase after it. You have to do the natural, and let God do the super so you can experience the supernatural.

And, above all, don’t forget to be you – no one can be you, except for you. God made you for a reason – be who God called you to be! Do not quit – no matter how difficult it gets. You have what it takes, and you have God on your side…there is no way you can fail as long as you don’t give up when it gets tough.

Know that you are loved, and there are people rooting for your success!

Sincerely,
B.M. Ray

Word Count - 647