Pudding that needs editing
+
Character (me) who needs rounding out
=
Perfect combination
But after boxing day we have
Over edited pudding
+
Far too rounded character
=
The New Years resolution
I've learned to be careful with resolutions. "This year I will get my book published" is a bad resolution. So are "This year I will lose weight", or "This year I will get a better job".
Good resolutions look more like "This year I will mail out a hundred queries", "This year I will work out three times a week" or "This year I will turn in a job application every day".
There are too many things in the publishing world, your metabolism and the job market that you will have no controll over and if you fail to meet your goals because of those obsticles you will feel like you haven't done what you set out to do even though you have. A new year is the perfect time to rethink goals and set up challenges but be careful about what you promise yourself. Focus your resolution on your own actions not the end results.
This is awesome, and just the perspective I needed. Thank you very much :)
ReplyDeleteVery sensible, indeed. (And, fwiw, CS Lewis's name is given as "Lesis" once in your profile page.) Happy New Year, and good luck with all the actions and possibly good results!
ReplyDeleteYup. The key is to focus on the action and stop worrying about the result. It's taken me a long tike to realise that there are many many things I have no control over, especially when it comes to publishing and dieting.
ReplyDeleteJudy (South Africa)
What a sad bit of pudding. I've done that to a manuscript. Then tried to reconstruct it again. Never works. Maybe I should resolve to make a copy of everything before I edit.
ReplyDeleteWise words here. There's so much we can't control. Losing sight of that is the road to unhappiness, isn't it?