FOCUS:

If you were asked to think of a single word that would best sum up what you would need to achieve your creative writing goals in the months ahead, which one would choose? When my writer friends and I received that challenge at a meeting several years ago, I couldn’t immediately think of one. But days later, while considering the positive and negative traits of a protagonist in my novel manuscript, I thought of a character flaw that could easily have been applied to me at that time. I lacked focus. My interests are broad, so it has always been, and still is, hard for me to stay on track with the theme of a current WIP (Work-in-Progress.)

My family knows I’m happiest when I’m deeply involved in reading, writing, and research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I continued to revise my second young adult (YA) novel manuscript–a 65,000-word manuscript I’d written years ago during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.) Instead of shortening it, it grew to have a word count of 98,099. Yes, I have a problem! Spontaneous bursts of creativity would sometimes result in haiku, nonsense rhymes, or other verse to add to one of my poetry collections; or, while mulling over writing prompts, I would end up with yet another short story, blog post, or picture book text. But my two novels are still closest to my heart. I keep striving for perfection, but something tells me I’ll never get there. I’m often waylaid by hours spent in research, and will easily fall into Internet rabbit holes where I end up exploring an entire warren of related information for hours or even days on end.

Did my choosing the word focus lead to improved motivation and subsequent completion of my goals during that particular year? Regretfully, I would have to say “no”. I did, however, read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude in subsequent months, and I was able to cross them off my list. This was immensely satisfying, for those novels that had been on my “to-be-read” shelf of books for at least a couple of decades. Back then, when I had to come up with a single word to identify my greatest need, I was either reading or writing, without making time for physical activity. It took me a while before balance became the sidekick of focus, and I was able to make time, again, for one or more of my previous exercise routines.

BALANCE:

In the past, as I observed my son Ken practising his skills with patience and intent, I noticed how he seemed to be totally “in the moment”, concentrating on the exact placement of one rock upon another, his fingers sensitive to every little crevice or hollow into which it might fit, every little shift in weight that might possibly alter its ability to stand unsupported. I don’t remember him ever failing at this; his successes always amazed those of us who watched him from the sidelines. Perhaps if we focus on the daily goals we’ve set for ourselves in ways that are both balanced and healthful, we, too, will achieve “the impossible”.