Keep the Story Going

Back in January, I made some resolutions. More like goals, I guess you could say. Things I want to accomplish this year, things I want to do, etc. There is nothing exciting at all about this, this is the kind of thing people do in January, I am not unique in this, of course.

I wrote these goals/ideas down in my journal, because once they are on paper, they are a bit more real. I suppose sharing them here would make them even more real, but I’m not ready for that, sorry. I still want the ability to renege on them if I choose, and if they’re here, well…

My journal has a table of contents page, so I have taken to indexing it by month (nerd alert) so for example pages 37-52 = January 2018. Oh, that’s because I actually started this journal in September, the ACTUAL new year, when you’re a freak who still gets excited at the beginning of the school year.

Now within those months I can make a page reference to something specific should I want to, and so I have noted in my ToC that my new year’s goals are listed on page 37. This has been quite handy for me to refer to, honestly. It’s actually pretty great to be able to flip to a page and find where my head was at on January 1st, and to see how I’m doing. And not in a judgey way, either. Every so often I take a look at what I wrote down, to remind myself of what I want to accomplish, what I don’t want in my life. And that’s important.

One of my goals was to submit at least one piece of writing somewhere. It doesn’t matter where. A magazine, a contest, a blog…nothing hard and fast, just make sure to get my writing out there. Wherever “there” might be. And, I am pleased to say that at the end of February, “there” became the CBC nonfiction contest. I mean go big or go home, right? So yes, I wrote a piece, paid my entry fee, and sent it off into the ether where someone that I don’t even know will read it and judge it and deem it worthy or not. Even typing that breaks me out in a cold sweat, but hey, guess what? I did it. It’s out there.

And the “worthy or not” part is totally true, and totally fine. I do not expect to win, place, or even show in this contest, and that is absolutely fine. It’s all about the process, all about keeping the story going. My story. Pretty happy about that part.