Why I Intend to Keep Writing in 2015...

2014 was a hit-and-miss year. I've documented this. But now we're headed toward 2015; and frankly, my mind's been there for some time. To be honest, I've been wrapping some final posts for the next ten days, but my real focus is almost exclusively on the coming 12 months--and a relaunch of sorts. Lord-willing, I am going to be able to better hone my energies on a few specific goals and projects, making the next 12 months far more productive, useful, and fulfilling.

A few housekeeping items:

• As I've said, this address will be moving to directly to the official 3LC site.
• Further, the ongoing blog on that site will now have a set schedule. Tuesdays and Fridays, all year.
• Those posts will be focused content with "long term" goals in mind (but more on that in 2015).
• The "In God's Image" series will likely end. Inasmuch as I love the idea, I do not think I will have the content to warrant continuing it in the new year. Of course, if I can get enough responses and interests, I'll certainly be resurrecting it.
• With some additional help and reinforcements, To Retreat From Romance will be released before December 31.
• And it will hopefully be one of several works to be published during the year. 

Again, I have no excuse for being so lax this last quarter. I admit that I let certain expectations and disappointments derail my motivation, but excuses are meaningless at this point. Now is the time to renew and continue. To work. 

I will say, that perhaps one of the best things that could have happened to me occurred this last quarter. I realized how much I loved writing, and I realized how deeply I am compelled to do it. I simply do not feel I am living my life to the fullest unless I am putting words to the page and making it happen, if even in small incremental steps. When I am in my zone, I feel a sense of doing what I was designed to do. I may have felt led to write a novel, but now I feel designed to stay a writer.

The revelation was equal parts encouraging and horrifying. I was encouraged in that "writing" was not a short-lived fad but rather a true desire that I cannot seem to dismiss. Further, any writer can publish, find an audience, and have an effect on that audience in ways he or she does not realize, regardless of whether one sells books or blogs or works in more collaborative fields. If one wants to write, he/she can do so and never be certain who is reading and benefitting from it. So doing the work matters, not just for oneself but for his/her audience. Thus, I was encouraged. 

I was horrified, however, to realize that this is truly what I feel fit to do, but I believe it will be a very long time before I can justify doing it for a living; in fact, I may never reach that day. The thought of spending the next 35 years working in a field other than what I am built to do can be frightening, but who knows what is in store for the future. 

All I know is that in the present I am focused and driven, and I'm going to take steps toward that future even as I continue to work hard at my 9-to-5 and support my family. I am looking toward 2015 with a sense of expectation and excitement I did not have in 2014. I think it could be the greatest year for my writing endeavors this far. I would like that very much, and I hope you'll join me on that journey as I take it. 

As always thank you again for reading, and please check back here over the next two weeks for my last posts at this address.

C