“Between a battle lost and a battle won, the distance is immense and there stand empires.”
-Napoleon Bonaparte
Well, 2022 is here. That’s not too dramatic a way to think about the year ahead, that quote, is it? I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t add a little melodrama to my day to day. As it is, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on just what I think I want to do this year. 2021 was so… expansive and suddenly so restrictive. This time last year we were on a monthslong break from work and so I planned a long road trip. This week all my plans were upended by COVID. That’s a bit familiar, huh? There’s still hope, of course, even I felt hopeful as the year shifted, and yet. I don’t know.
2021 was still a year of progress, and drawing on the lessons of history, if there were a theme for how I want the upcoming year to progress, consolidation seems the key. I banged out more writing than I know what to do with, took over eight thousand photos, rearranged my apartment and bought more art (need to write about that), helped Raleigh come back swinging into full service, and saw so many new and old places and people I feel a little worn out, in a happy way. It’s like a runner’s high, walking into 2022. A lot of worldbuilding, except in real life. Now I have a life, and I think I’m finally fully appreciating that. It’s real now, you know? What happens next? I think I have to evaluate and gain on everything I’ve done since.
First, writing. At this point, framed from looking back on last year, I had better focus on the things I can directly influence. We’re in a release year for Freedom and Control, with Part I of Another Time rockin’ out in the world, and parts two and three soon to follow, it’s a lot of tightening and final editing. That’s fairly standard, I’m already waiting on what I hope to be the next-to-last editing copy of Part II, and keeps structure to my yearly schedules. Honestly, for all the writing accomplished in the years since this project’s been going, I think that’s what I value about Telgora the most. It is order (control?), and a framework to build other progress around.
I guess my biggest project for the year will be the finalization of 2021’s NaNo draft. I really do mean it’s the first non-fantasy novel draft I’ve ever really been happy with. Sections sent and read to alpha readers and friends and family have been well-received, too. Reflections on human connection, travel, love and loss. A lot of strong opinions about Savannah and NYC. Broadly, it’s a road trip novel, deeper I like to think it’s more. By the end of the year I want to have it ready to begin querying (ahhh!). Ambitious, sure, but why shouldn’t I be ambitious about even consolidation?
After banging out a haiku a day through 2021 (not technically true but hey there were 366 of them by the end), and countless other poems, I think poetry is a matter of keeping the course. Sending more out for magazines and the like, a goal I’ve had for a while and never really followed up on, will be a bit more of a focus. Like editing with novels, it’s a matter of tightening. Finding a voice.
There’s more good news about writing on the way. Stay tuned, y’all!
For the rest of my art? Photography reigns supreme as an avocation. I like to think I’ll learn to draw, but I do say that every year.
So we’ve got releasing Parts II and III of Another Time, getting a draft of a novel ready to query, getting my poetry ready to present. A fantasy side project that keeps chugging along for some damn reason (hit 25k the other day… Some side project). Oh! I want to write more short stories, too. Maybe one a month again? Would be a good goal. That’s the more flexible of the others.
What that all means, though, is that I actually do think I will be blogging and posting on instagram less. Part of that is making sure what I’m putting out in the world is, well, GOOD. The rest is restructing my life about getting things done as much as showing what’s happening in it.
Of course, that thought brings me to work. Oh work. I love my work. We ended the year strong, overall, New Year’s service struggles aside, and the future does look bright. We return to a wine dinner and then Valentine’s Day. The holiday schedule for the year is a bit rough, but when isn’t it? I’m using the break to read more especially about bartending and service tightening, with no doubt too aspirational hopes of getting us ready for another, fuller, summer. I think I’ll be singing a lot of “Surface Pressure” this summer (watched Encanto last night… I should blog about it. Theme song for older siblings right there). But, really, after feeling more and more in my element (stressed as it is), there’s some excitement for another year of genuine, passionate work. Maybe that’s one area where it’ll be more expansion than consolidation. I keep talking about switching over to WSET. Let’s try to make that happen?
I think a lot of my goals for the year reflect the uncertainty going into it, and that’s okay. aspirations and ambition need a little tempering, and consolidation is as worthy a goal as progress. I see how I’ve grown and created all kinds of wonderful things, and while it’s never quite time to rest, I can find the time to ensure I don’t lose it all. Again. Planning helps some. Admitting, as they say, that plans never survive first contact with the enemy.
That goes for travel, too. I have two trips planned, one to see my brother in New Mexico, and another to Virginia. A couple concerts. Apart from that, the year feels sparse. We’re waiting, aren’t we? Or, maybe this is the year things get a little more serious. Let’s have a year of tying together all the things we gathered and getting them set before undertaking some next grand adventure. Life is of course a grand adventure in and of itself, but sometimes the only way to make it to the summit is to sit and have a little snack. Some rest on a sunlit rock, looking at the trail behind and beyond. Maybe write a poem or two, if only in your head. Take a picture.
Consolidate, recuperate, reevaluate.
Just, remember to rise, dust yourself off, and move on.