Goals are Good
Sometimes…
This is reposted.
Goals are sometimes good. I’ve even attained a few in my life, but I believe writers are already doing quite enough without going totally overboard with New Year’s Resolutions. I’m also not sure things like this need to be done immediately after December 31, when serotonin levels are low.
I decided I would only make resolutions that would inspire my mental well-being and take away stress, not give me more:
1. Make my meditation and yoga practice a priority because I can barely function without them. Or should I say take my medication? Ah, shucks, it’s late.
2. Read more. It makes me happy. I love to read, and it makes me a better writer. Win-win-win.
I think a better approach for the month of January is to focus on a creative re-boot, so last Friday, I went to The Philadelphia Art Museum and viewed the Matisse show. Did Matisse make New Year’s resolutions or have goals? I will paint ten paintings this week and create two bronze sculptures and three charcoal drawings? No, I don’t think so. I believe creative beings don’t operate like that. He might have said I’m going to paint a bunch of paintings around this Odalisque theme until I’m bored out of my mind or something like that. The exhibition had a documentary film showing him running up and down stairs, smoking, playing with his dog, and living his life. Doing things besides creating his art.
The one painting in the show (see above), surrounded a fireplace, was my favorite (notice the lady on the lower right, holding a book.) Not every piece was of that quality. There were quite a few pieces that were more like preliminary sketches. It was certainly interesting to follow his thinking, but they were unfinished works, and not meant to be. Oh, wait a minute there was one that he worked on for eight years, that still wasn’t finished and the curator said, “He left it purposely like that.” I think I told my painting teacher something along those lines too, but the truth, I just didn’t know what to do with the thing to resolve it.
Some paintings in the exhibition were lovely, and some less so. What I’m getting at is that it’s easy to forget that not every piece an artist does is a masterpiece. It’s the same way with books and blog posts, ha! You can’t hit a home run every week. You can reach for the stars, and you should, but it doesn’t mean you’re always going to get there. Before anyone jumps on me, I’m not slamming Matisse. He’s considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. All I’m saying is that not everything he did is a masterpiece and some works are better than others. Interesting too, that Matisse was born on New Year’s Eve.
January seems like a month meant for getting those ladders, rocket ships, or whatever you use to help you reach those stars in working order. There’s one song that get’s me in the mood every time for reaching for those stars. You can hear it here. Sky Full of Stars by Vitamin String Quartet.
Thank you for all the likes on recent articles. That was an excellent Xmas gift and appreciated. Maybe I need to take a week off more often. Ha!
I’m considering topics for this year. I’m revisiting bookfunnel. I’m on my third book promotion and plan on writing an informative article about the ins and outs of book promotions to expand mailing lists.
I also learned that BookBaby offers audiobooks (in any language) at a very inexpensive rate. They can do this because no actual person reads it. They use AI to read your book. Supposedly you can’t tell the difference. Do any of you have experience with an AI-created audiobook? If you have, I’d like to hear from you. Leave a comment.
Have a great week peeps! Go easy.