Dear Me: Back to Basics

Dear Me,

Wow, it's been a dang rough year, Jace.  Business took a sharp dive and left you scrambling for alternative avenues for work.  Your personal life took an unfortunate turn ending with a divorce and the proverbial new start in life.  Even your writing journey was shaky at best. 

During the past four and a half years, you've managed some pretty impressive accomplishments achieving success and acclaim from fellow WDC writers for your short stories and poetry, your in-depth reviews, and your help and support of members through the various groups and technical forums.

But, what have you done lately, Jace?

It seems that your attention span is CROWDED!  What to do.

You spend too much time lately thinking about the past and the things you can't change.  Your writing has become stagnant--when you write at all.  Life is mechanical, and while you meet the minimum requirements to get by on WDC, or with work, and in life, you do so without the fire, that intensity you used to display.  Where's your drive, Jace?  What to do!

Perhaps it's a cliché that everyone has the same amount of time with which to accomplish all the things in life.  Maybe it's a cliché that 88% of all new year's resolutions fail.  What to do?

First and foremost, you're a survivor.  And you've always lived life most fully as a writer.  Consider all the difficult circumstances you've encountered that have been rendered passable, even better, through your writing.  These past months should be no different.  You have a way about you.  You're dramatic, pragmatic, witty, observant, creative ... and uh, verbose.  Okay, that's where editing comes in.

See?  You're already beginning to think like a writer again, Jace.  These past tribulations are but another chance to excel.  It seems to me you must kick that recalcitrant muse out of his warm and comfy bed, and get your writing back on track.  Return to the basics.  Remember why you joined Writing.Com in the first place.  Everything else--the reviewing, the support, the contests and auctions ... in essence, your presence--will blossom after you get your writing head on straight.

You might submit a number of stories for publication, or achieve a finite number of reviews.  Or even write one story per month.  But, you've been there before.  You've set the goals ... and failed to achieve them.  You've made the effort ... and come up short.  While goals are good, they're not the end-all.  Nor, as it would seem, do they always motivate you to succeed.

You know yourself better than anyone, Jace.  Setting goals aren't your glass of sweet tea.  You have many options, but only one choice.  You need a higher motive, and the sheer joy of writing is that calling!

Do you remember the title of a book you happened to see while browsing through Barnes and Noble recently?  "All That I Am."  Accept those words as a mantra for 2013.

All that I am IS A WRITER! 

You may never write that bestseller, or win a Pulitizer Prize, but never doubt your true calling.  First and foremost, Jace, you are a writer!  Start acting like one.

Me

Word Count:  527 words