Well, we are five weeks into the new year. And having started with the best of intentions, we realise that those resolutions were nothing more than a “to do list”. And in my case, it is an unfinished “to do list.”.
In previous years, the normal routine was, “Oh Well! Try harder next year. But I made a promised to myself (the kind of thing you do when you are over 21) and it involved me finding my creative side.
In fact, that has been my regular routine for years, but this time I made some promise to myself. However, this time I must deliver on my promises.
Last year I had been spending every minute on my biggest writing project ever when I suffered a common headache amongst writers. It was not a case of my writer’s block, but my creative well had run truly dry.
My finalised first draft of 25 chapters and 100,000 words was three quarters complete, and for months I was trying to dig into my creative reserves. But it was not until I got into the early stages of the festive season that I did not have any.
Not even the occasional glass of my favourite tipple was enough to revitalise my creative juices. So with the usual Christmas pressures, I decided to step away from writing, convincing myself that I will get back on track during the first week in January.
I don’t think I would have been the first person to say that.
But when we entered the first days of the new year, my head was clear, still empty, but then I became a victim to another common ailment for writers – procrastination. Or, to put in layman’s terms, I could not be bothered.
However, this year is going to be a big year from me from a broadcasting and writing point of view. There will be the relaunch of the “Lunchtime Experience” radio show and possible podcast.
Then in April will be the 90th anniversary of the opening of the first Butlins Camp, which is the perfect time to relaunch a revamped version of my “Butlins Trilogy”. It was eleven years since I launched the first instalment, “What Time Does Midnight Cabaret Street” and I liked to think I have developed as a writer.
I have been so thrilled with the response since that first book was launched along with the publications that followed. And now I am ready to not just make it an even better product, but I have learned so much more when it comes promoting it to an even bigger audience.
Then there is the matter of my American Football novel, the three-quarter completed one, which I intend to publish at the end of June, which for Scottish Gridiron Fans is a big anniversary.
So, if I am going to hit those targets, I need to put the work in, but after a long layoff, I desperately needed to reset the old discipline dial.
I then, for some reason I started getting mentor videos on my Facebook feed where one had a piece of advice that was the proverbial kick up the jacksie that I needed.
If you are working for a CEO who demands that you start you starts at 9am, you start at 9am; otherwise, you became a victim of your decisions, you get the sack.
As a writer, you can also be a victim of circumstances if you do not deliver on your objectives. Be your own CEO – the rewards will be worth it.
So during the last few weeks, I have been shutting out the rest of the outside world, immersing myself in audiobooks. The interesting and not so interesting stories. One took my mental capacity to the limit.
But I am always like that with detective stories. I never work could work out who did it.
Along with the stories, my brain was filling to the limit, taking in numerous lectures and tutorials on the art of creative writing.
After all that, suddenly my creative well is starting to fill up. Writing this post was a start.
Now I am ready to get that gridiron book finished, but not yet.
I have to revisit my Hi De Hi Years first.