Buh-bye January

Some months have a greater impact than others. January is supposed to be one of those overlooked months. The holidays are over and spring is still feeling a long way off. It's a blah month. Usually. For some reason this January has seemed to go on forever--and not in a good way. I've covered for coworkers on vacation or sick leave, had a monster head cold and spent way too much of my free time volunteering. It's been a month that felt very much out of my control.

Not that I think I have a lot of control over any particular time period. But I usually have more control over how I spend my time during whatever time frame. The question is: Can I take back that control in February? I certainly hope so.

Last February I tackled a self-imposed challenge. The anti-NaNo challenge. Every other day, I responded to a prompt, like "Describe your antagonist's pet." The other days were for new plot ideas. I got some good stuff out of that month. And some not-so-good stuff. It spurred me on, though. Set up the year as a creative one.

So, what about this February? Rewriting MMG is a biggie for me this time around. Had a bit of an ah-ha moment about it yesterday morning--which was still January, I know. But because it was January, I didn't get a chance to do anything about it. My theory about February being different should mean that I do get a chance to tackle the ah-ha idea today.

Bret made me an offer about Apollo's Lyre that I may not be able to refuse. Instead of editting--and, therefore, having to deal with authors (what a weird bunch they are)--I might do a regular column. Hmm. Four or five issues a year. Could I be the next Miss Snark? Ms. Snippy? Maybe I could be the Not So Very Nice Editor. Any ideas? What kind of column would you like to read?

And here's to a happy, productive, creative February for all of us. Well, we already know that Jenny's going to be productive, but you know what I meant.

Poor D.B.

She is really struggling with The Artist's Way right now. I tried to tell her that it took me three tries to get past the fourth week, but I don't think she's buying it. I had a lot of trouble with the "no reading" rule for week four. It stopped me cold the first time, along with all the emotions and issues that had been brought up in the first three weeks. The second time, too. Finally, I just said, "Screw it" or something like it the third time and ignored the rule.

D.B. has trouble ignoring rules. I'm afraid this week may break her. I hope she does continue. I think she could have fun with it. But she's got to want to do it so I'm backing off.

It's been an interesting 3 weeks for me, too. I pulled out my copy of the book and have been reading along with her. Some of the pages are falling out. The result of going over the first part so many times until I "got it right". I've also revisited some of the tasks and exercises. Interesting. I couldn't find the original notebook so I don't know exactly how my answers differ this time around, but I'd bet they do. Different place in my own journey.

Like D.B. I had started thinking too much about Morning Pages. I've been zipping along on them and getting better results. And I've been trying to do them before anything else in the morning. As the day starts to intrude, the tone of the pages changes. Maybe Afternoon Pages should be in a separate journal. That might help clean out for evening writing. Interesting thought. We'll see.

So, this week is all about revision. Re-vision. Seeing again. Looking at MMG with new eyes, but also seeing it for the umpteenth time. That should be an interesting journey, too. Let's hope it's a fun and productive one.