January – The Month of Revisions

I’m not big on resolutions. It’s not that I don’t think they’re valuable. I’m just more of a year-round goal-oriented guy.

Last year, one of my goals was to do NaNoWriMo and write a novel. That didn’t go so well. In fact, it turned out I was way more interested in my outline than I was in the novel that I started to write from it. So that will get a big ol’ revision. Later.

This month, I address one of my biggest writerly flaws…fear of editing. Or just avoidance of editing. It’s not my favorite part of the process. The problem with loving writing more than editing is that I write things that never get edited. Which means I get very few things finished.

So I’m dedicating January to editing. I’ve got a finished first draft story that needs a thorough edit before I can submit it to my writing group. I’ve got an embarrassing number of stories that have been critiqued by my writing group but I have done nothing with those notes. And I have a novel that I’ve been submitting for critique that, as a result, now needs massive edits.

Though I’m not so resolution oriented, I’m still inspired by the new year to try new things. This month – science fiction! I’m very much a fantasy writer, but I’ve been feeling the urge to really try to write something purely technological. No magic. No super heroes. No ghosts, or any other supernatural elements, for that matter. Just a human story influenced by the technology that surrounds and infuses human lives.