It isn't just a new year for She Writes, it's a new year for me, as my birthday and She Writes's are very close together. (Mine is today!) For the anniversary last week, we asked She Writers all over the world to get together and share their wishes for the coming writing year. For my birthday, I am going to take a big leap and write mine down here for all the world -- or at least all She Writers -- to see.
This is a big step for me. As some of you know (but many of you don't), I started She Writes two years ago at a time of deep emotional turmoil and pain. My marriage was ending, and with two small boys to protect and my own guilt and grief to process, I wasn't able to write. I tried, but the words just didn't come, and the isolation writing requires was dangerous for me in the throes of so much depression and anxiety. (My journalling was critical to my survival and mental health, but my journals are not something I would ask any other human being to read!) I needed to reach outward at a time when I couldn't go in. So on the advice of a very wise friend I decided to do the next best thing, responding to my own need for a home, a community, and an empowering space for women writers, a place where all of us can turn during those times when writerly isolation is hard to bear.
Two years later, I am thrilled to say that I am ready to write again, and writerly isolation sounds heavenly! (Now if I can only find some.) I have ideas that have been percolating for some time, and are now too urgent, and too inviting, to ignore. I am also aware that the very existence of these ideas and creative impulses has been comforting me for months now, making me feel as though I have accomplished something when in fact nothing has been tried. That must come to an end. It's too easy to bask in projects yet unattempted and unrealized -- in that hazy, dreamy light, they all seem doable and brilliant, and it is tempting to leave them in their idea-state just for that reason. But I owe it to myself, and to the stories I want to tell, to subject them to the harsh and unflinching light of the work itself, and see how they hold up.
So without further ado -- three wishes for my writing in the year to come.
I wish that...
1) By this time next year, I will have completed a television pilot and have settled on a novel idea (I've got several in my head), and have gotten it well underway.
2) By this time next year, I will have found a writing group to support me in my efforts, and be settled into a routine for doing the work regularly.
3) By this time next year, I will have written something I am willing to share with my agent. (Ack!)
How about you? Declare your three wishes here, and ask other She Writers to hold you accountable. I know that this is one of the places where I will get the support, and the gentle hounding, that I need in the year to come. That is certainly one of the things She Writes is for, and I can't tell you how good it feels to to know that, now that I am ready, it's here.
Comment
Comment by Ann Rodela on July 5, 2011 at 7:53pm Happy Birthday Kamy!
1) By this time next year I need to finish writing my first novel and whip it into shape!
2) I would like to get know my fellow she writers better by participating more at shewrites.
3) I want to make a book trailer for my novel by composing the music, mixing it and choosing decent visuals.
Comment by Adrian Ruiz on July 5, 2011 at 7:18pm What inspiration to have come so far and through so much. My inspiration to write has been my family, parenting and my work as a police officer. My three wishes would be:
1- This time next year, have at least a third draft of my creative non-fiction completed.
2- To have worked with my writing group/friends/beta readers and family an honest review of the work.
3-With the results of the two items above, be ready to finally submit proposals, chapter outline and queries to agents for feedback and more importantly, someone to believe in me and take me on.
Comment by Misz Lyla on July 5, 2011 at 6:37pm Nice comeback. Two years shows how strong you are. (clap) (clap). I'm not sure I would be able to do the same. ; )
By the way, regarding my wishes, since I'm not really someone that's involved deeply into writing, I don't really have much wishes that even I'm sure I can realize. I do have a dream though, that is to be a writer like most of the members in she writes. However, if short term wishes are included, then I think can list out at least three. ; )
1) Finish the stories that I have started to write on my blog and make a better effort in writing it weekly rather than monthly. (because I just get too lazy sometimes...hahaha...)
2) Start to read novels again after I've left all my beloved novels on the shelf for a long time. (I think they've been reading me and not the opposite...hehe...)
3) Be able to put all my thoughts and imagination into writing that even I would read a million times and not get bored. (I think I've got to brush up on my vocab before I actually can do that...heee~ )
These are the three wishes that I really wish I could achieve before this year ends. Well, maybe the third one could be recycled for next year too. hahaha... Let's support each other!! ;)
Comment by Debra Elramey on July 5, 2011 at 3:42pm 
Comment by Sheila Path McMahon on July 5, 2011 at 2:53pm :) Thanks for sharing some of your story - I'm a newbie so I appreciate it! Happy birthday, too.
1. Have a complete manuscript of the novel I'm working on now.
2. Finish writing the play I started last month.
3. Follow through on creating my own company to publish my first novel.
Comment by E. Joyce Moore on July 5, 2011 at 2:51pm 
Comment by Patricia Woodside on July 5, 2011 at 2:46pm Happy birthday, Kamy, and congrats on the success of SheWrites.
By this time next year, I will:
1. Have two completed category romance manuscripts ready for submission.
2. Be actively submitting to agents, editors and contests.
3. Have at least two steady, decent paying freelance gigs.
Comment by Julie Achterhoff on July 5, 2011 at 2:13pm 1. I wish that my four books would get read by many more readers. For this to happen I think I need to change the way I think about the whole marketing/branding process.
2. I wish that I would take the story I've had milling around in my head for weeks and at least begin to start writing it down.
3. I wish that I will be able to learn the self-publishing process for myself, as I have lost my resources from my last two books.What protective people we are--we're asked to name three wishes and almost everyone, including Kamy, named goals, things we can do something about. Not the magical wishes elves make come true. Like the rest of you, I dare not risk disappointment, so here are my three goals:
1. Find a beta reader who can give a good critique of my novel, which is about as finished as I can make it, and complete a rewrite.
2. Get up the nerve to launch a blog. (For ten years I was editor of a country weekly and had no fear of writing and publishing, yet I can't put a simple recipe or book review out there in cyberspace.)
3. Stop organizing lists and materials and actually send a first batch of query letters.
Dear Kamy,
Brave willing woman that you are, I am so thrilled to read you here today. I love how much of yourself that you put so tenderly and authentically here in to Shewrites. I am sorry I did not get to meet you in NYC during the BEA, but I do feel that I catch a hint of you in the pages of this site. This post however, brings you fully present. Thank you for this.
My 3 wishes for the year are this:
1. I desire (my word for 'wish') to complete my book proposal this summer and have it be filled to the brim with excellent writing and a marketing vision that is fueled by my creative genius and authenicity.
2. I desire to continue to flesh out my website and my presence in the writing world by being published somewhere, anywhere that boosts my visibility to women readers and supports me claiming my full voice as an author, artist, Mom.
3. I desire to find the perfect venue for my first book and to engage with inspired professionals who can assist me in creating a sustainable plan for my 'brand'.
4. In all these desires, I desire most of all to live my life full out and thus to create more and more material from which to write.
There. That is 4. One to grow on, right?
All my love and Happy Birthday Kamy,
Suzi
Lynelle Clark posted a discussion
Amelia Palmer posted a statusAmelia Palmer posted a status© 2013 Created by Kamy Wicoff.
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