JXO2017

-XO

I keep a small note in my wallet that I peek at every now and again. It’s just a question I scrawled out on some scrap paper years ago. “Where are you wasting your time?” I never have the same answer for that; we all tend to wander and tangent in different directions throughout our lives. For me, wandering has brought about discovery.  Finding the activities worth my time and the waste.  Finding the meaning in the mess. 2017 will be the last year of my twenties and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to be when I grow up: a writer. I write a lot. I participate in National Poetry Write Month in April and I usually reconstitute November as another excuse to write 30 poems in 30 days. I’ve met a lot of writers(poets and otherwise) and talked about writing schedules. I find myself going through long periods of not writing. It’s not really writer’s block so much as a lack of discipline. Anddddd, there’s my segue! For 2017, I’m going to be writing everyday. Daunting, right? Kind of. Because I’ve seen many people (as well as myself) fail at this sort of endeavor many times, I’ve spent the last 3 months thinking of what my life looks like without the writing. How much time do I have to write each day? Which days do I have more time? What is a realistic goal for each day? So starting January 1st, I’ll be following a weekly writing schedule for the next 52 weeks. I’m not sure what of it I will be posting here, but this blog will serve as a space to document the journey. I’m leaning towards posting my favorite thing from each week, but I don’t want to make myself do that or limit it to only once a week. I will more than likely post a weekly update, possibly a way of venting when I get frustrated or celebrating each week I am successful with. You’re all welcome to follow along, spell-check my posts, join in with your own writing schedule(make your own, don’t just copy mine), or just listen to me celebrate/vent.  Here’s what my schedule looks like: *Mondays! A memory! Start with the phrase ‘I remember...’ or as the year goes on, write on memories that I’d like to share with the world or things that have impacted me. 500 words. *Tuesdays! Poetry by prompt! I’ll use prompts I’ve collected from friends and in April, I’ll stockpile prompts from the NaPoWriMo site. *Wednesdays! Poetry by form! I may only do 25ish form poems and then revisit the same forms in the second half of the year. I’m not interested in obscure forms that require intense research, just the idea of fitting my thoughts into a specific order. *Thursdays! Whatever/probably a slam poem! Thursdays will serve as the day I can write as much or little as I want. Whatever is in my head. Maybe a list poem, maybe a letter to a stranger, maybe a response to someone else’s art! Stay tuned for how weird Thursdays will get after 40+ of them! *Fridays! FanFiction! But like, in a forced kind of way. I’m going to pick an aspect or character from the highest-grossing film of the previous week and write 500 words on that. *Saturdays! Mantra! Light work for a busy day. I’ll take an abstract concept (ie love, hope, faith) and jot down a quick sentence or two on how I define it. *Sundays! Pop Culture Response! Summing up the week, I’ll take whatever’s been trending on social media/alternative news, and give a response. Shooting for 500 words, here as well. These might not get posted as frequently, because my goal is not to start a conversation about my responses to social media/pop culture. My goal is to write. I’d like to end with that. If you’ve read this far, keep that in mind. My overall goal is to write and inspire people to write. I’m just here to spend a bunch of money on ink and paper, vent about it when it goes bad, and celebrate it when it feels good. Something something new year new me.  Hope this goes well! See ya on the other side! -XO