Writing Exercise 160

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you enjoyed the transition between the years and celebrated with your loved ones. Have a little Haiku to set the mood for 2019:

2019/01/02 – New Year (haiku)

Two thousand nineteen

Fireworks herald the year

The future awaits

Writing Exercise 108

Happy New Year, everyone.
This is the first writing exercise in 2018. At first I wanted to write a drabble, but then I noticed that, if structured differently, it becomes a poem. So here you have my first drabble-poem:

2018/01/05 – good intentions (drabble-poem)

You might have had a bunch of good intentions,

Goals to achieve,

When the old year was on the brink of dawn

And fiery flowers illuminated the sky.

Have you had any opportunity

To make them more

Than just good intentions yet?

Have you taken the first steps

Towards the road you laid out before you

A few days ago?

There's only so many tomorrows and laters.

The time is now

To be true to your word,

And your promises to yourself.

Don't hesitate!

Make the most of today

And keep your intentions in mind,

So they may come true.

Now what?

As the new year has started you might either be exhausted from all these holidays or energized with good intentions.

Either way, after completing NaNoWriMo in November your work isn't done yet. You may have a first draft but don't make the mistake to publish it as is. Please, don't! A draft is a draft, and it needs serious polishing to become the shining gem it is supposed to be.

January is the perfect time to do this polishing as it's often ugly outside and you usually feel both drained of creativity and motivated to start the year fresh.
You probably haven't touched your work in about a month. So when you open the document again you likely will be surprised what you have achieved to write in November. You will see your story with a fresh set of eyes.
Now read, and read carefully.
As you go, catch all those typos and puctuation errors, reword where necessary, cut too long paragraphs or add to them where they are lacking. You will see, there is much to do.

Be critical, but don't butcher your story.

Get help when you're stuck or story blind. You will want to introduce your draft to your betas soon. Let their comments help you edit. Don't take their criticism too much to heart, but learn from them, accept and adapt. Remember: they want to help you, not harm you.
And by the end of it you will have an improved new draft.

Writing Exercise 055

Today the old year ends, and the new one begins. How are you celebrating? With your family, with your friends? Anyhow, it's time for the last writing exercise in 2016. And of course, the topic of this drabble is New Year. So before the fireworks begin, let's stop to look back for a second:

2016/12/31 – New Year (Drabble)

Where has the time gone? Another year has passed by quickly, oh, so quickly. Out of all the things that had happened, what do you remember most vividly? What was memorable enough to make your personal 2016? Perhaps it was something you achieved. Or an emotional experience. Or the face of a person dear to you. Whatever it was, it will stay with you when the clock strikes twelve and the new year begins. You may want to start fresh, you may want to carry your thrive over to 2017. Whatever you decide, I wish you a happy New Year!

In Between

I hope you had a lovely Christmas holiday with your loved ones.
Did you get a lot of nice presents? Was the feast delicious and your company enjoyable?

As New Year's comes next, I ponder. A lot of things have happened this year ever since I started this blog. Good things, exciting things mostly; but also sad and crazy things that I wouldn't have thought ever to happen. In retrospective the good things almost always weigh out the bad things.
I made new friends and reconciled with old ones. I published two books and a translation of one and wrote another, which is now in beta stage -- both the English and the German edition. I made a promise to marry the one I love! I joined a literature project and found my enrepreneurial spirit.
So I'm taking all these positive things with me and look forward to 2017.
I'm not going to dewll on what might be or should be or could be next year; what's more important is to acknowledge the things I've accomplished and draw strength from that to accept whatever the future has in store for me. All I know is, that it's going to be another exciting year, and I'm looking forward to sharing this with you.