Make 2009 the year of Artistic Risks
I tend to avoid resolutions for a few reasons, but I do think they have their place, especially when it comes to carving out space in our lives for our dreams. On the first day of 2008, I resolved to “take twenty risks on behalf of my artist.” This small commitment to self came out of the fear that I was going to lose connection to my writer because of work, mothering, life, all the highly important stuff that calls louder than my writing projects. On my computer, I kept track of what I submitted to where and to what contests I entered. I’m pleased to share that two good things came from that resolution: I was named a finalist for the New Letters Award for Writers and I won a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship. Neither accomplishment led directly to publication, but they bolstered my spirits and confirmed the notion that my writing is something I need to continue to pursue. And, I didn’t reach my intended goal of twenty risks. Instead, I only made it to seventeen, but my sense of artistic self was soothed, fed, graced by my having placed it as a priority. So, in this new month of this new year, I encourage all writers to set goals for their writing. Perhaps the risk might be to introduce yourself as a writer at the next party you go to. Or you might ask yourself to write three hundreds every week day.
By stretching what we imagine for ourselves, we make the space to enter it, both literally and figuratively.
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