Thoughts on 2020

Thoughts on 2020

         Taking a private look at my writing performance in 2020 might give me a clue about what I need to do better in 2021. No doubt Covid-19 had a huge impact on our lives. But I was left with the thought that writers should have an advantage in weathering the isolation because of the solitary nature of the writing craft.

         I signed up for the "I Write in 2020"  challenge in January, before Covid hit. That was a challenge sponsored by Annette to write something, review something, and enter a contest every week of the year, obviously 52 weeks. That seemed to be a good way to instill some discipline into my writing habits. However, I dropped out of the “official” challenge in March, having become disillusioned with the material I had to review. But,I liked the idea, so I continued on my own, successfully completing 52 weeks. At the beginning, I set a goal for myself: as much as possible, my weekly writings should also be usable in my major project. In that, I failed miserably – only one out of 52. I’ll chalk that up to my own lack of imagination. Many times, I opted for the ‘first’ story idea, instead of pressing for the ‘best’ story idea. Would more freewriting have helped?

         I did not jump out of bed every morning proclaiming “Oh, goody, I get to write today.” There was not one day when the words flowed forth and landed perfectly on the paper. Many days, I felt my head was a stone and squeezing it was futile. Most days were a jumbled mess somewhere in between, producing a lot of junk of minimal quality. Now looking back, I’ll take credit for doing OK.

         Bottom line is: I wrote a lot, I reviewed a lot, I competed a lot, and, as a result, I learned a lot. That’s the point.

         On to 2021. Another year to excel.

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