Two-thousand-ten is drawing to a close and it saddens me to think we still don’t have flying cars, world peace, jet packs, x-ray glasses, gourmet meals in pill form (a la Willy Wonka, without the need for immediate juicing, of course) and Jesus hasn’t shown any interest in returning; but I suppose it’s alright. I can give up a few pie-in-the-sky ideas for the baby-steps of progress that the slowly but surely makes things a little better on this pale blue dot, if only in hindsight.
However, of all the things I did expect from the new millennium as a kid, I did not think I’d be tackling so many creative projects. And without that expectation, I certainly couldn’t have anticipated being met with any measure of success. Growing up, I basically sucked at everything people considered important or worthwhile.
So what will the end of this year mean for me? Well quite obviously, having written 52 short (and sometimes, extremely short) stories in a row. As per my 2010 New Year’s Resolution, pumping out a short story every week has been unbelievably demanding and I can guarantee I won’t be doing it again next year. That is not to say I’ll be writing less, but that I’ll be more selective about the things I choose to post, publish or submit for all the world to see.
Now then, one thing I will be doing in the coming weeks is ramping up for next year’s endeavor: Project Revision.
Okay, that’s the best name I’ve come up with at the moment, but it’s better than Project Get More Shit Published. Then again, that does have a nice ring to it. We’ll have to wait and see.
I’ve already revised a few shorts from this year for (real) publication elsewhere, and that is one thing I’ll be doing full steam ahead once this year is over. In the mean time I plan to go through the index of stories and consider which may warrant a second look for possible revision or even expansion.
Currently in the running are; Needles Part I & Part II, Cold Hands, Latakia, the Life is Shit and Rush series’ and possibly Mouth. There are others that stand out to a lesser degree, but which tend to sound like someone else’s voice, as I was trying on different styles throughout the year. And I don’t want to be that guy. I want to develop my own voice.
Revising those stories, and maybe hammering out a half dozen more shorts for submission or possibly a collection, will be my project for next year. And there’s always the possibility that I could adapt a really compelling set of characters into a novel or novella.
And now that I’m in the habit of writing every day, a secondary goal will be to maintain this level of output even though it’s not immediately going to the blog. Which means, of course, that this blog itself will begin to change course.
I intend to keep the index as a list of stories for this year’s project, and more clearly note which stories are good, which have been republished (and maybe the ones that suck and are not worth reading? You know what I mean.)
I guess what I’m driving at is I’ll be turning this project back into a traditional blog where I write about… stuff I’m doing, publication success and failure, acceptance and rejection, pissing and moaning about the usually junk, and probably writer’s block. It’s weird, I know. To think people would want to read my plain old, every day thoughts.
Overall, what I’m trying to do is raise the level of work I put out for everyone to see. As beneficial as this project has been for establishing the habit of writing daily, this next year will be about discipline and care. Discipline about my word choices, taking every single word into consideration, and care about my characters and story arcs. And we’ll have to wait and see how I work without fretting about the weekly deadline the way I do now.
So thanks for following the project this year, and here’s to cranking out better, more refined and focused fiction in the year to come.
ADJ
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© Anthony David Jacques MMX
