I’m a few days late on when I normally post. Though I didn’t necessarily do it on purpose, it also lines up nicely with the new year. So I’d like to take stock of what I accomplished this past year.
First success: this blog.
Going into 2024, I wanted to set a goal to write weekly blog posts. I’m proud to say that I mostly hit my goal. There were a few exceptions when I was traveling, and there were more than a few times that I didn’t post on time, on Sunday.
However, these missed deadlines were also an exercise in adaptation. I often get stuck in my own head and think that if I can’t do a thing in a certain way, or at a certain time, rather than do that thing in a truncated way, I don’t do the thing at all. So even though I missed some weeks or some Sunday deadlines, I’m proud to say that I eventually wrote the post.
Second success: 13 words.
Maybe you didn’t know. Or maybe you didn’t realize that it changes every month. But I update the page ’13 Words’ with a new thirteen word story every month.
I wanted something to get and keep the creative juices flowing on a regular basis. Something like fiction or poetry. I’m not a fan of the Two Sentence Story, but I know a lot of people are. So I decided to try my own variation of it. And I’m proud to say that I hit it every month this year. And some of them were actually kind of good and intriguing.
I’m not sure if anyone read them. But art is self-expression, so I’m also all right just doing it for myself.
Third success: Codename: Memories.
I don’t think that it’s self-deprecation to say that the 100 or so page first draft of this story is rough. But it was kind of rough on purpose. Kind of like the above-mentioned “stuck in my own head” mentality, I just wanted to get through the first draft of a story. So I ignored my depression that told me it wasn’t any good. I ignored my anxiety that said that no one would want to read it. I ignored my inner editor that tried to insist I go back and rewrite from the beginning every time I changed direction on something.
But I got it done. That was the goal and that’s what I did.
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Goal for 2025: Codename: Fairyland.
I started notebook work on a new story on December 5. My goal is to write a chapter a week. Maybe not a very lofty goal. But it’s a pace I think I can maintain even with everything else I have going on in my life, ie work, cycling, music, and just enjoying life.
When I was in college, I was in a grad level playwriting workshop as an undergrad. I was the only one in my class to write a full, two-act play in the course of the semester. I did this by writing a scene a week. That’s it. At the end of 16 weeks, I’d written my award winning play, Visceral Memory.
So a little bit can go a long way.
Goal for 2025: improve The Chimerical Dark
This current post notwithstanding, I am going to make every effort to post every Sunday. This will be a challenge for me insofar as making plans and then executing those plans are not strong skills of mine. Almost every time I didn’t post on Sunday, it was due to something being on my schedule that I should have known would affect my ability to post, but thinking that I could juggle everything anyway. So, my goal regarding this goal is to be more cognizant of my obligations, and plan and follow through accordingly.
A second, subgoal to this goal is to improve the content of The Chimerical Dark. When I resolved to post weekly at the beginning of 2024, I set a rotating schedule of What I’ve Been Reading, Writing Topic, What I’ve Been Watching, Update/News. I spent a lot of time this year writing about my struggles with mental health as it pertains to writing, and I am grateful for everyone who liked those posts and followed me based on those posts.
But I want to expand and add to what I’m writing and writing about. So I’m going to add an ‘Ask Me Anything’ post whenever I get a comment on a post that asks me a question.
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I’m feeling pretty good about 2025. Let’s make it a good one together! Thank you for taking the time to read The Chimerical Dark.
The Chimerical Dark 