Writing Goals for the Last Third of the Year

I spent part of yesterday morning in a bit of a funk, and I'm not sure why.  I had a good week and was looking forward to a more leisurely Saturday, the only day of the week that has the potential to be leisurely for me.

I have several theories about my funk, but the one that makes the most sense is that I had writing to do, and I dreaded it a bit.  I needed to write a sermon, which is almost always satisfying when finished, but rarely something I look forward to.  I have a final paper for CPE, which from yesterday morning's vantage point, seemed like pure drudgery.

So I practiced some self-care.  I went to the Saturday farmers market in Mills River, which always cheers me up.  I bought some cookies from a young entrepreneur.  I did some sketching.  My Zoom call which is a women's Bible study group made me happy. I watched an old cooking show (Vivian Howard's A Chef's Life), which was a Christmas special, for a bonus win.  These are classic self-care practices for me.

But of course, what really made me feel better was getting the writing tasks done.  I now have a sermon I like, and I made significant progress on my CPE paper.  Now let me think about the upcoming semester.  I want to establish some habits that can get me back to writing more of what I want to write:

--I want to write my sermon by Thursday, which means that I start thinking and planning by Tuesday.  I had this goal in the spring, but the seminary course work I needed to do often took priority.

--I want to return to my goal that I formulated in the first days of this year, writing one finished draft of a poem a week.

--Actually, that's not really my goal.  Here is that goal, as I wrote it in my January 1 blog post:  "I want to end the year with 52 poems written, finished poems. They may not be worth sending out, but they need to be finished. Fifty-two poems gives me space to catch up, and space to have a white hot streak that sets me ahead."

--Right now, I have 14 finished poems in the file.  So I am seriously behind.  But I still have 19.5 weeks in the year.  I could get to 52 poems in the file if I focus.

--I have a lot of rough drafts.  Many of them won't require much revision. So, I'll take a look through those drafts, as I am also writing new work.  I also want to get back to writing new poems.

--Let me finish with the words of Octavia Butler, from one of her early journals, before she won the MacArthur, which changed her writing life trajectory:  "So be it, See to it."