Happy 2024!
I’m not one for making New Year’s Resolutions for my day-to-day life, but I do usually start a new year with some writing resolutions. I’ve blogged about them over the years, and it’s nice to be able to go through them. It shows me how far I’ve come since starting this blog. The early ones are all about writing something new; for a few years, it bothered me that I wasn’t actively engaged in writing a new novel, just rewriting previous work. But I persevered and did start and finish a new novel, thanks to Lockdown in 2020. In 2021, I had a new resolution – to start submitting my work to literary agents in an attempt to find a publisher. I was still working on that a year later, but that resolution fell by the wayside in favour of writing another new novel. I suppose at some point, I will start that process again, because I am still serious about getting my novels into real print. But not this year, as I have some different resolutions for this year.
The one thing I don’t need a resolution for is finishing my latest project. Writing a 2nd draft of Novel Number Six was the target I set for myself last September, with a plan of rewriting one chapter each week. (First Drafts – pulling them apart and putting them back together again) I wasn’t sure if I could maintain that level of industry, but it’s actually been going really well. I have indeed kept to the schedule, and during a particularly productive period around October, I got three chapters ahead, meaning that even when the busy Christmas season began to get in the way, I didn’t fall behind. In fact, I’ve been able to use this holiday to get even further ahead. In the plan of action I drew up last September, I should have completed Chapter 17 by this date, but I’ve actually reached Chapter 21. With just five chapters left to do, I should be done by February, a month ahead of schedule.
It felt like cheating to say my resolution this year was to finish the 2nd draft of Novel Number Six, so I’ve come up with two new ones. They’re a bit different to what I’ve settled on before. The first is connected to Novel Number Six. The whole reason for putting a deadline on finishing the 2nd draft was so that I could ask some young people I know to read it while they are still young people. But the thing is, apart from my family and closest friends, no one else knows that I do this ‘novel-writing’ thing. There are some students that I work with who I would like to share this novel with, but first they’ll need to know that it exists, which will mean revealing that I wrote it! I can’t imagine how they’re going to react. And if I tell them, there is a high probability that it will also become known to my colleagues. They know I like reading and English Literature, but will they be surprised to discover that I’ve written a novel? I must admit, I find that quite daunting. This was my secret, my hidden side, and I liked it that way. But if I want Novel Number Six to be read by my students, I’m going to have to be brave and be more open about it. So that’s my first resolution – to stop being so self-conscious and put myself forward more. I’ve done it before and it worked out well. It’s time to take that step again. After all, it’s not something to be afraid of – it should be something to be proud of.
As resolutions go, that’s quite a big one for me, but once I’ve made that step, it’s done and over with. So I need another resolution, based on an actual writing project that I can keep working on through the year. I’ve been so committed to Novel Number Six that I haven’t given any thought to what might come next. There are ideas, but they’re far too sketchy at the moment, and I don’t have the time or head-space to turn any of them into a serious project this year. But I do want to keep writing new stuff, so instead, I’m going make 2024 the year of the short story. I have plenty of these in my head, and it would be nice if they were written down. I could even set a goal – once I was finished with the 2nd draft – to write one a month. I’ve thought this before and never got round to it, but if I state my intention here, there is more chance I will actually do it this time. Well, let’s see. Maybe this time next year, I’ll have a whole set of short stories to publish. And that’s next year’s resolution sorted too!
What a great way to start a new year, with ambitious ideas and optimistic plans. Will I achieve any of these goals? Stay tuned for updates.
M J Schofield 