Coulda Woulda Shoulda

My regular journaling has significantly improved my mood. I've been taking some time, twice a week, to polish existing content as well as develop my floating ideas into a more concrete outline. I've felt this focus for the last 6 weeks that I can't really describe properly. It's as though I've shifted my thinking totally. Writing is my craft. It's what I do, who I am, how I exist. It's like my mojo. So, I guess, I've gotten my mojo back. My focus, my purpose, my essence. And it feels good. It feels right. And I am almost understanding more now why the best writing of the best writers happens when they are older, more polished, more experienced, more rough around the edges. When all the youthful spark has been extinguished and what's left, is the determined embers, that will not go softly, that will not die out. That will continue, fervently glowing, creating warmth and not just drawing attention from its flicker, but pulling people in by it...

It's that time of year again. That time when we all decide to become a little more of our better selves. It's a good time of year to commit to something, even if just to say you're going to try to make it happen. And, even if things don't change and perhaps you even fail at whatever you were resolving, it's actually just the action of pledging change that really brings the most benefit. And so, this year, as I'm sure most writers are pledging, I pledge to WRITE. MORE. Not necessarily blog more. But write more. Keep the act of it going. Commit to treating it as my craft instead of my hobby. Promising to keep it a hobby at heart but a skill in practice. I've started a daily journal again - one page per day -- of anything, really mostly a rundown of what I did that day. Or heck, even a bit of stream of consciousness of what's banging around in the old head that day. C/O Moleskine Official Site I also bought another daily Q&A book that...

I have rearranged my Google Reader so that I have appropriate feeds to keep myself reading and not scrolling endlessly through social media streams. Don't get me wrong: social media has a place and a purpose. I am just trying to get back to my creative space and write more. Reading more is a great step towards that. And so, every little bit can only help.

It's amazing how powerful and incredibly re-energizing to connect with like-minded people. My trip away from Vancouver has been inspiring & reflective in so many ways. It was great to get a chance to connect with a fellow Sang-seng-nim & creative mind on the weekend. Here's to the beginning of many wine Skype dates :) Alex on the Loose http://chooseyouradventure25.blogspot.ca/