Bits of Today’s Morning Pages
It’s the 8th of January. I have written nothing this year. So, what’s the plan?
I opened my memoir and edited the first few chapters. I discovered two grammatical errors. Maybe I’ll rewrite it this year. Or will I? Maybe I’ll just copyedit and publish. A couple of days later I reconsidered. Why publish? My writing group thinks I should. Not just my critique group, but others as well. Fear of failure perhaps? Maybe fear of people judging me or my family for the way we lived. Embarrassment maybe.
Why not have a little fun with writing instead? I enjoy little challenges, having completed at least two last year. October and December 50 word stories and then archiving them on Herman and Myrtle website. Mostly I try to be funny, but many times I’m just sarcastic. But I enjoy the challenge.
So what does this mean for 2025 goals? Do what others suggest or do what I enjoy?
Some ideas: Keep my blogs up to date by doing one or more challenges each week. Why weekly? Is that too much to expect? After all, it’s been eight days and I haven’t made a blog entry yet. What’s my excuse? Time? I only have so many hours in a day. I work. I keep chickens and cats happy. Once in a while I cook, grocery shop or clean house, do some laundry or yard work (not so much in winter).
I must confess. Addiction comes into play here. I play online games. There. I have admitted it and now I am taking a step one approach and admitting gaming has become an obsession and I have no control over it. It started with playing a little solitaire while watching TV. Then I found out I could make money. In less than a week I earned a whopping $5.89. That’s more than I earn writing. It becomes a habit and next thing you know, you get nothing else done. Delete the games. Turn off the TV. Write. Sounds simple enough, but then that huge component of addiction-the need to continue what we think is giving us pleasure only to discover it has replaced something we value and enjoy. There’s no way to set limits except to stop. Cold turkey-Delete the games. Turn off the TV. Write.
Let’s go back to goals, since that’s what I’m supposed to accomplish.
Post something to one of my blogs every week or Post something on each blog once a week. What’s so hard about either of these choices?
LATER ON, THE SAME DAY: THE GOALS
HERMAN AND MYRTLE (An inconsistent archive of things I post to Instagram and/or Facebook, usually the result of following some challenge or prompt I find while surfing the internet. Sometimes a rant, often triggered by mishaps or remarkable happenings between this author and her poor hubby.) Fifty words a day, 6 word stories, 100 word stories, pictures, cartoons, drawings. Why? Because Herman is 80, Myrtle is 75, and life is too short not to see the humor (or sarcasm) in these golden years.
GOAL: At least two posts per month
WITTBITS (Just check the tags in the right-hand column. It’s a conglomeration of observations that make their way to my keyboard with an occasional spark of wisdom.)
GOAL: At least one post per month
CHALLENGES: Support other authors and bloggers by participating in their challenges, writing to their prompt, posting the resource, and reciprocating.
GOAL: At least one per month.
That’s it. What are your writing goals?
WittBits 
Writing keeps me from my writing (well, and scrolling; mostly scrolling). I’m working on another memoir. I want to “finish” it by the end of the year. This week I’ve written a blog post, and I have a monthly newsletter to finish. I haven’t worked on the memoir since November.
What is your goal for your memoir? What do YOU want? That would be my question. If you want others to read it, then YES! If you just wanted to write down the story and you feel complete as it is, and to keep working at it keeps you from other writing you want to do, then . . .
My three cents.
Sounds like a plan! Good for you that you’re writing, no matter what.
You got this. Good luck with your writing goals. My goal is to finish editing my manuscript by the end of the month.
I haven’t set any writing goals for the year yet choosing to take a long and lazy way into 2025. I’ll get there. Eventually. 😊
I can’t believe January is nearly over and I’m close to not meeting goals already.