Happy New Year

by Donna Andrews

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.  (Frank Herbert, Dune).

I posted an earlier version of this blog . . . somewhere. A while ago.  Before I got out of the habit of blogging. So this is both a retread and a fresh start.

I wasn’t ready for the new year. I’m still not ready.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

Some years I spend way too much time trying to bring the old year to a perfect close and starting off the new year perfectly. Perfection is hard to achieve. And except in very small things, trying to achieve perfection rarely works. It produces stress, missed deadlines and opportunities, feelings of failure and inadequacy . . . but perfection? Dream on.  Perfect is the enemy of good.

Writers tend to know this. If we’re under the delusion that our manuscripts are perfect, our editors quickly straighten us out. The copy editor then administers another healthy dose of reality, and I’m not sure I’ve ever had a book published without at least one reader finding something amiss--a typo, a missing word, a small factual error. If we’re paying attention, we writers eventually learn the difference between quality and perfection.

I had a lot going on this December. I’d turned in revisions on Birder, She Wrote, which is scheduled to come out in August. But I’m already planning for the next book, due in . . . let’s now think about that deadline just yet. Not today, anyway. And I'm editing stories for an anthology. And reading dozens of manuscripts for a contest. And I had things to do for SinC and MWA, and perhaps more important of all, things to do for and with family and friends.

Things to do. Not a lot of sitting-down-and-reflecting time. Which means no, I haven’t made any grandiose new year’s resolutions. Actually, I never do resolutions any more. I set goals.

Yeah, there’s a difference, at least in my mind. You break a resolution and it’s . . . well, broken. And hard to mend. There’s this weird feeling that you should start it over again not immediately but at some significant time. Like at the beginning of next week. Better yet, next month. Or next year.

But a goal feels like a target. You aim for it. If you fall short--well, achieving a goal isn’t supposed to be a piece of cake. Failure isn’t built in, but if it happens, you know what to do: keep trying.

So sometime soon--maybe even this afternoon--I’m going to sit down, do some thinking, and set myself some goals. SMART goals--Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-Bound

I can tell you what two of those goals will probably be. Goal one will be to continue working to find ways to be more productive with less stress. Like maybe by improving my equivalent of Meg’s notebook-that-tells-me-when-to-breathe. And goal two will be to work on not beating myself up when I don’t make as much progress as I’d toward my goals.

Here’s to a more balanced year!

P.S. And yes, getting a lot of writing done is one of my goals. What are yours?

Comments

[Diana Surkamp]

To read more (as soon as yours come out) and to read more intentionally. My book club provides ample opportunity for variety, but I need to take it on myself to finish biographies and historical non-fiction. I'm a huge mystery fan, and you are one of the few writers who made me laugh out loud while reading!
I also joined the local gym yesterday, and start with a trainer tomorrow. I want to be around for a long time. Keep writing!

[Donald Jay]

After a brief break from social media, in addition to "start blogging again", I have three goals this year; publish my next novel, Marley’s Curse, a Dickens Station Treasure Hunt Mystery, start a new novel, and continue expanding the free offerings for readers on DickensStation.com. Oops. I almost forgot "read more books by Donna Andrews."

[Karen Parker]

I have to start off by thanking you for the wonderful books you've written that I enjoy so much! I actually listen to Audio Books by this stage of my life, so I eagerly await the appearance of the audio version. I am a business owner, with 2 cats, and I also know the meaning of BUSY! I agree entirely with your concept of SMART goals, and speaking from experience I can say I have NEVER achieved even "caught up" and am unaware of having reached perfection on much of anything, so I aim for perfection and accept the best effort I can bring to bear. By this stage of my life, I am modifying my standards of what is worth investing a lot of time in, and what is OK to apply the "good enough" standard to. Best wishes for the New Year and thank you again. Karen Parker

[Avis Crane]

I've been doing goals instead of resolutions for many years, because they work better for me, too.

I love your books, and reread the Meg series a couple times during the pandemic as comfort reads. Your new books always skip to the top of my TBR pile!

[Elizabeth G.]

I’m pretty much terrible at both resolutions and goals, but I’m ever the optimist about starting over! It doesn’t have to be a new year - may be a new month, a new week, or a new day!

On the reading front, I would like to fit in more time with my home library. I have so many wonderful books I just never get to, being stuck in the mentality “I don’t have time to read, I need to do ‘X’.” Recently, I was asked my most anticipated read of 2023, and of course, it was Birder, She Wrote!

I like your goal to be more productive with less stress. That is one I would like to work toward as well.