We are one month into the new year and I am working on my New Year Resolutions. My goals are numerous and ambitious. January has shown me I was overly optimistic with certain goals and unduly generous with others. No worries. Enter my editor to access, revamp and make needed adjustments.

I will put the pedal to the metal, expediting the finish date for easier goals and then removing them from my list. However, bumping the timeline impacts the remaining goals. Since I am struggling, they need work. I extended timelines, added steps and created greater details to augment the process. The benefit of completing the easier goals first is, once finished, my time available to devote to the more difficult goals expands. It is the current plan, anyway.

How are you progressing with your goals?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Steve Jobs makes creativity sound like an easy process. You just connect things you see and then you can feel guilty because you didn’t really do anything. Bah. Being creative requires guts, hard work and a willingness to fail, learn and try again and again until you get it right. Thomas Edison learned repeatedly how not to make a lightbulb. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times in his career compared to his 714 career home runs.

Yes, creatives have a knack for seeing from a different point of view. They can take experiences and thoughts and craft them in new ways, create new ideas, new processes and new things. But it doesn’t happen without work, experimentation, and risk.

What risks are you taking today?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Yes, I love when my writing makes me cry. Ostensibly, I cry because the writing evokes strong sympathetic emotions, not because it is bad.  I also love when my writing makes me laugh, or when it surprises me with a clever twist or when it makes me wonder about what comes next.

While I enjoy those personal moments, the real test is when someone else reads it. I wait, I hope, I dare not breathe.

Do you look for reader validation?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Here in Chiberia, the snow continues to fall, and the piles climb higher and higher. As the accumulation mounts, we prepare for temperatures to plummet with the approaching polar vortex. The forecast calls for a low temp of -27F (-33C) with wind chills as low as -50F (-46C) possible. Firewood, piled higher than the snow, will keep the fire roaring. Soup is in the crockpot. Warm cookies, fresh from the oven give a delicious aroma to the house.

By the fire, strategically positioned sits my comfy leather armchair. My laptop stands nearby with my favorite pair of fingerless gloves. They ensure cold fingers won’t stop my progress. Snug in my writing lair I get down to business.

How do you set the stage for your writing time?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

We are driven to do more, faster, finish the never-ending to-do list and move on to the next great item guaranteed to make our day. We spend our time working hard and achieving our goals. We are told the attainment of our goals will bring us fulfillment. And we buy into the mindset, the lifestyle. One by one we attain the goals and discover we are left without the feeling of fulfillment they promised.

If we are honest, we discover the pleasure and the fun lies in the journey, the places we see, the people we met the lives we touch. The thrill is in the struggle, in the joy of people helping each other. Those are the stories that touch our souls and the stories we need to tell. Those are the journeys and the paths readers want to follow.

How do you celebrate the journey?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I keep a daily schedule listing the items I want to accomplish. I make an entry Monday to Sunday, dutifully blocking an hour to write. And life laughs at me. Phone calls, text messages, hunger pains, dirty laundry, and a thousand other diversions, conspire to distract me from my best intentions. They are tests, each designed to challenge my commitment to my stated goal.

I find myself engaged in the excuse removal business.  I schedule laundry time, plan meals, silence the phone and other notifications. When my scheduled writing time arrives and laundry beckons, I refer the request to its scheduled time and push the beast out the door. Leaning hard on the door I block the other diversions and attempt to summon my muse by writing.

Is your daily writing time scheduled?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Music plays as I wash dishes, do laundry and clean the house. It is my traveling companion as I drive. And often playlists run while I write. Music can be bubble gum for my brain, sweet and non-demanding, it allows my mind to relax from the rigors of serious thought.

At its best music can inspire and guide my writing, helping to develop an atmosphere as I write. Then there are the times when serendipity intervenes, and a song inspires an amazing turn of phrase that makes your writing amazing. Other times silence is the order of the day.

What background audio frames your writing time?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Poets and writers in the same category as seers and prophets? Those are interesting companions. And on a certain level, it makes sense. There are times I write, creating a story with little regard for anything other than getting words on the page. Later, as I re-read the story, I often find unintended meaning.

However, I don’t believe writers are bereft of wisdom. To the contrary, I feel writers, in the process of converting thoughts and ideas into a physical manifestation visible to others, hone their perspective to a degree where they develop their universal wisdom. Daily writing tweaks their wisdom, which further permeates the instincts and inspirations writers unconsciously invoke.

Do you rely on your instinct when you write?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

There is a lot of chatter about clearing space, creating order and keeping items that bring you joy. Love it, hate it, agree, disagree or sit on an ambivalent fence, it is a good exercise to consider the process. The level of physical clutter is personal. The right clutter level for me may not be right for you.

Clutter impedes my thoughts, stifling the quiet voice of inspiration. So, I’m re-organizing, cleaning and purging when I should be writing. Yes, I have encroached on my precious writing time. The counterintuitive part is I have been producing more (and hopefully better) words in the constricted time frame. The true cause of the phenomena is not entirely clear, but I’m running with it.

Where are you on the clutter spectrum?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

We make hundreds of decisions daily. Mundane decisions like what we eat for lunch, and life-altering decisions like where we call home. Large or trivial, each decision potentially impacts our quality of life. Conscious thoughts lead to a developed life philosophy as opposed to living based solely on emotions and gut instinct. Writing, thinking, allows us to lead an examined life, one worth living, they say.

Writing helps me think. Through my writing, I discover clarity and direction. Living in a manner aligned with my core values crystalizes why I write. The more I write the more self-fulfilled I feel, which feeds my reasons for writing. Now there is a nice Catch 22.

What is your reason for writing?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer