What Do You Imagine?

With only two days left in two thousand and ten I thought it appropriate to talk about winding down the year, mentally that is.  If you are like me then you can relate to that statement.  I always find during this time of year my mind tempts me to shut things off and it also does a pretty good job of coaxing me into just riding the ticking clock down towards midnight of December 31; every writer’s dream, for this will be the year.

As I pondered the reasoning behind this strange phenomenon for someone who constantly drives themselves to consistently write on a daily basis I realized I never really stop writing, only my fingers do.  You see I believe this is the time of year my imagination kicks into overdrive and my conscious mind takes a much needed rest.  As writers, what better time to take a little escape from the everyday pressures we put upon ourselves to go above and beyond our goals and just let our imagination take over.  Think of all the possibilities the New Year will bring!  What about you, do you seem to always find yourself at this time of year taking a mental vacation?  If so, what do you imagine?

I find it very important during this time of year to take advantage of my imagination and scribble down every detail it has bestowed upon me.  Each year I have a new journal full of fresh ideas, characters, plots or even dialogue on a work in progress to begin the New Year with, I call it my imagination journal.  How about you do you keep a journal close by?  It’s important to have one all the time but it is especially important to have one when your mind is on vacation but your imagination is in full swing.  Never rely on Mr. Memory because he has a tendency to let you down.  (I think that’s his main purpose in life!)

The time it has taken me to write this post the clock has ticked closer to every writer’s dream and my imagination journal is filled with sparks and twinkling lights waiting to explode into magical words, delightful characters and mystical worlds all wanting to come to life!

Happy New Year and until next time,

Keep on thriving, keep on striving and keep on writing!

T.K. Millin

The Unknown Author       

Merry Christmas

The Unknown Author has exciting news to share!  In their last post (click here) they talked about how after NaNoWrimo they got some well deserved R&R, decorated their house for Christmas and even wrote a short story.  
Well they are happy to report the short story they wrote, The Christmas Cat, has been published (under their true identity) in The Hernando Today a publication of the Tampa Tribune.
 
Yep the cat's out of the bag now!

(please enjoy, click on link below)

The Christmas Cat 

You Win Some, You Lose Some

It has been a week to the day since NaNoWrimo ended and in that time I have taken some well deserved R&R, decorated the house for Christmas and even wrote a short story all while pondering what my first experience as a NaNoWrimo participant meant to me as a writer.

My first thought was since I didn’t achieve the official NaNoWrimo 50K winner’s pin I am a loser.  Wanting to be sure I deserved that label I opened up my trusty writer tool and looked up the definition of loser.  Loser: Somebody who has not won a specific contest, somebody adversely affected by a situation or somebody who is unsuccessful or unlucky and seems destined to fail repeatedly.  Now since I am someone who did not win a specific contest well then I would have to agree I am a loser, but do I deserve to be labeled as a loser when it comes to being a writer?

Let’s explore the other two definitions of a loser.  Am I someone who was adversely affected by the situation?  Absolutely not, in contrast, my participation in such an awesome event was far from catastrophic and I had the good fortune to meet many talented authors from around the world.  Am I someone who was unsuccessful and seems destined to repeatedly fail?  As far as being unsuccessful, again, absolutely not, after all I have a solid good first draft to polish over the next coming year.  Am I destined to fail again?  Yes, if I give up trying.

Just like any explorer who feels compelled to conquer a quest, I too saw NaNoWrimo in the distance as a mountain standing tall waiting for me to climb as high as my imagination boots would take me.  Win or lose I’m proud to say I followed my quest and discovered how far my imagination could climb.  Because you see even though I may be a loser when it comes to not attaining NaNoWrimo status I am, however, a winner when it comes to writing.  Never in my wildest author dreams did I ever see myself, The Unknown Author, pushing beyond their limits and finishing a really solid 32,316 word first draft in less than 30 days.  Bring on NaNoWrimo 2011!   

Philosophically speaking, isn’t life all about winning some and losing some?  So the next time you think of yourself as a loser, open up your trusty writer’s tool and discover your definition as a writer.   

Until next time,

Keep on thriving, keep on striving and keep on writing!

T.K. Millin

The Unknown Author