I haven’t made any New Year resolutions, given that statistics show that most people have broken them by mid-January, they serve no real purpose. I do however have a folder entitled 2017 The Plan and soon to be renamed 2018 The Plan. It has a number of categories, ten in all, beginning with the overall plan it features domestic plans (such as the conversion of the studio in 2017) and then a number of work categories. I check it throughout the year and adjust accordingly; it gives me an overall picture to the scope of my yearly ambitions and acts as benchmark.
I’m inveterate list maker although these can be a horrible ball and chain as items frequently get dragged from one day’s list to the next with no satisfactory sense of completion. A yearly plan is different, when a project hasn’t got off the ground I can assess the reasons why. Often it is entirely out of my hands, perhaps dependent on the cogs of an organisation to turn; there were three failures to launch in 2017. Some domestic projects, like six months in design and planning and then a twenty weeks build can set back or derail any number of winning ideas.
Interestingly, as I look down the 2017 categories not one is writing. You may find this extraordinary for someone who is a writer, but this is because the writing gets done whatever. It is my life blood, the written page is one area I have control over, at least in the early stages. So immediately after turning out the detritus thrown haphazardly into my study during the festive period I will, once again be happily settled at my keyboard tapping my way into a creative 2018.
On the theme of writing may I pass on this interesting Ted Talk by Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown Literary Agency ‘How to Write a Best Seller’ - with thanks to Katherine Gregor for sending me the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+mDuP2BsVy4
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