May has always been my favourite month of the year. It’s an optimistic month – the anticipation that we might actually have a warm, pleasant summer; we can start considering outdoor events such as festivals, picnic’s and BBQ’s with last year’s washed-out disasters firmly put down in memory as ‘bad luck’ and we begin to consider all hues of cheery colours as possible wardrobe wearables. In general, there is just a less drab look about the place as we start opening windows and hanging laundry out on the mossy green washing line outside, enchanted by the smell of fabric conditioner in the open air.
Usually, May is the month where my ‘dilly-dallying’ and ‘faffing about’ usually stops. I can no longer get by on the usual suspect excuse of ‘it’s still early in the year yet’ as my reasoning for having achieved little by the time May rolls around. The darkness of the winter months has long slide past the horizon, the gentle nudges of spring have at best retreated and it is face the music time – what is this year going to be all about and am I making any progress? What of my plans and goals?
Last night, I lay awake until 3am pondering the above. I analysed each month of the year so far and what I had achieved, if anything? Over-all, considering this is my ‘Year of Profound Change’, I feel I am doing quiet well, notwithstanding the fact that the last 4 weeks have morphed into a slight state of limbo on the creative front.
Goals and Achievements Tally (I used to call these KPI’s in a past life):
1. Define Life Vocation
– After much soul-searching and ‘back-against-the wall-stuff’ I now know I want to pursue a life of writing and creativity
2. Bring Life-Long Aspiration to Fruition
– I have completed the first draft of my first fiction novel and I am currently (albeit very slowly) occupied with the first re-editing stage.
3. Identify steps to translate my newly defined Life Vocation into reality
– Write every day – I set a goal to write one piece of flash fiction and one short story, in order to build a creativity bank (also for competitions).
– Blog – I have entered and embraced the Bloggisphere – two blogs, with another in the pipeline.
– Read – lots and lots!
– Learn – Understand the literary and publishing world.
– Study what I am interested in – I have researched possible Psychological courses for the autumn this year.
– Be inspired – The idea for a fantasy novel came to me in the middle of the night and I am dipping in and out of that, as inspiration strikes.
4. Launch ‘Me Version 2.0’
– Break free from the Rut – I have moved city mostly in the hope that a change of scenery will give me new perspective.
– Address bad habits (negative thinking, destructive life-style choices, aimlessness and the ‘woe-me’ mentality).
5. Make Money
– Really struggling with this one!
Not bad I feel, considering I couldn’t see the wood from the trees last autumn, so thick was the fog in my clouded brain. I have come along way in the first four months of 2012. However, the move to a different city unsettled my routine and focus slightly more than I had anticipated. The creative focus took a dip as my energy went in to settling in and familiarizing myself with my new surroundings, living arrangements, organising logistics (such as internet access, parking permits, unpacking & arranging) and then there is was – the month of May!
So it’s now time to stop the ‘dilly-dallying’ & ‘faffing about’ and get back to business – the business of achieving my goals. And so as of today, I need to:
1. Find and secure my daily routine.
2. Sharpen the focus on my writing – first re-edited draft to be completed by June 1st (see new count-down timer!
3. To catch up on last month, 2 short stories and 2 pieces of flash fiction, plus a Chapter for my fantasy novel by June 1st
4. Devise a structured plan to make money.
Wish me luck people – no more ‘faffing about’!
NMG.C
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