I feel so rusty as I type this that my finger joints are practically squeaking. Blogging is an easy habit to create… and it’s just as easy to lose.
As I tweeted yesterday, I think I left my will to blog at the beach. That’s the beach there on the left, the view from the deck as evening came down and the breeze off the ocean blew up into a gale, sending us inside just before the mozzies came out.
I’ve had the best kind of break. For one week, it was full of activity and culture and food and family and friends. For the second week, it was full of … nothing. Well, nothing and food and friends. The kind of holiday where you simply lazed through the hours between mealtimes. I read a lot of books. I thought a lot of thoughts. I didn’t do any writing at all. When I came back to my desk on Monday, I wrote and wrote and wrote. All those pent-up words spilling out into my novel.
And now here I am. Back to my blog. I’ll be here two or three times a week again this year, depending on my work flow. I have a lot to do in 2014 and I’m looking forward to sharing details of those projects as and when I can. It seems that my vow to work smarter, not harder, in 2013 paid off to an extent – but now I must work harder in 2014 to keep up with myself.
I’m relishing the thought.
What are your goals for 2014?
Welcome Back Allison!
I love nothing holidays – how lovely!
My goal is to focus more on my family, myself and my business…..so far I am off to a good start.
I’m looking forward to a great year. I’m feeling inspired and have already done more writing than I did last year! With a big boy off to kindy, I may get a little bit more time (if the 2yo continues his daytime sleeps). So glad you had a restful holiday – love those holidays with lots of nothing. It’s really important to recharge before a big year. I look forward to hearing what you’ve got in store.
Good luck with those extra hours!
Hi Allison. I was very interested to read that as a writer you gave yourself a break from writing on your recent holiday. All the best for your goals in 2014. I’ll be following what your up to on your blog. Meanwhile I have several goals myself – I have a writing goal – to write more really. I treated myself to your ‘get paid to write’ book as a Christmas present. I’ve got plenty of material to assist me. Now it is a case of putting it into action.
Hi Cathy, I don’t always have a complete break but I found that this year, I really needed one. I needed time to think and plan as I have a lot to accomplish this year, so hopefully all those hours of dreaming will pay off! Good luck with your writing goals – I hope the book helps!
Hi Alison, I’ve just discovered your blog – looking forward to following along. I’m a writer with three kids, so January is more a note-taking in odd moments at the skate park rather than a planned write x amount of words event! Hopefully February will bring more time once school goes back.
Great to meet you Karen! And yes, I totally agree that school holidays mean thinking time, not writing time!
I think it’s so important to have replenishing holidays from time to time, when you do very little. I gave myself time off blogging and Facebook over summer, and my cup slowly refilled. Look forward to seeing what you have in store for us this year đ
Me too… me too!
I ADORE those holidays that are full of nothing – they are the best. But friggin heck they are hard to come back from! I almost wonder if doing nothing is worth the pain on return?!
I hear you.
My goals are to keep writing, stay happy, and have fun…
Have almost finished a first draft of my first book (which will be workshopped over 6 months at the Australia Writers Centre’s “Novel Writing” course with the wonderful Pamela Freeman – really looking forward to that when it starts in Feb…)
Plus I hope to write a first draft of a second book this year too… đ
And, of course, keep writing stories about my life on my blog.