Monday's Muse - Supernatural's "Time After Time"

Though I’m writing about it today, my muse has actually been inspired by last Friday’s episode of my favorite current TV show, Supernatural – it featured one of my favorite story tropes, time travel. There wasn’t a new episode this week, so I watched “Time After Time” this weekend, too.

Created by Eric Kripke and now in its seventh season, Supernatural usually takes place in its own version of the present day U.S., with supernatural creatures like ghosts, vampires and werewolves; and evil entities like demons and leviathans. The show’s heroes, Dean and Sam Winchester (played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) drive cross-country in their 1967 Chevy Impala, hunting these monsters every week and (usually) destroying them. “Saving people; hunting things,” as Dean describes it, is the only life they’ve known – they were raised to be hunters by their father, after their mother was killed by a demon when they were very young.

Armed with their father’s journal, detailing everything he learned about supernatural creatures over the years, as well as a trunk full of weapons like wooden stakes, iron blades, flasks of holy water and salt-filled shotguns, the brothers have gotten by on their wits and instincts; sometimes with the help of family friend Bobby, the hunter who became a father figure to them after their father died; sometimes allied with a small group of other hunters; but many times on their own, with just each other to rely on.

But, starting in the fourth season, the writing team expanded the Winchesters’ world to include angels (some were allies and some were adversaries) – and these beings had the power to control time and place.

And so, as the storyline developed each season, Dean and Sam have been sent through time. Once, Dean went back to his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas in 1973, where he unexpectedly met the younger versions of his parents; and in a later episode, he and Sam both encountered their parents in 1978. In both episodes, they learned that the past can’t be changed, even though they tried their best to influence the outcome. And Dean was sent to the post-apocalyptic future of the year 2014 – this time to learn the possible cost of a decision that he had to make. Last season, Dean and Sam even traveled back to the Wild West of 1861, in an attempt to find and bring back a weapon that could kill a powerful evil creature. These episodes have been some of my favorites of the series.

So, since angels have pretty much been written out of this current season, I thought there wouldn’t be a plausible way for any more travels through time to occur in the series. But I guess I underestimated the writers and their creative ideas, so I was surprised and pleased when I first read, on TVline.com in October, that there were plans for an episode to take place in the 1940s, featuring the character of Eliot Ness, the leader of the law enforcement agents known as the Untouchables. I had no idea how the writers would accomplish this time traveling, but I trusted that they would make it interesting, and I looked forward to seeing it, especially when I read in November that Nicholas Lea (who’d played Krycek on The X-Files) had been cast as Ness.

And I wasn’t disappointed when I saw the episode last Friday – I liked it as much as all the other time travel episodes, and thought it was very well-done. Written by Robbie Thompson and directed by Philip Sgriccia, it works as a great stand-alone episode, outside of the show’s sometimes weighty mythology. A newcomer to Supernatural could easily watch and enjoy it, and get a sense of the show’s themes of tenacity (Dean and Sam will do whatever it takes to hunt and thwart the creature who is committing the crime or causing the trouble) and loyalty (Dean and Sam will do anything to help, protect and save each other).

The “monster of the week” this time is Chronos, the God of Time – he has the power to move through time, but has to kill people and take their energy in order to use it. Chronos is responsible for the deaths of two people in Canton, Ohio, and Dean and Sam are on the hunt for the killer, after getting a tip about the case, that the bodies were mummified, from one of their allies, Sheriff Jody Mills (played by Kim Rhodes).

After they find an empty house to squat in, they interview the stoner neighbor of the last victim. The guy says that he saw a man, who was dressed like his grandfather (in a suit and a fedora), grab his neighbor by the throat, and a red energy passed from the victim to the man in the hat, and then the neighbor suddenly aged, as the witness' watch stopped.

Doing research, Sam finds out that Canton has a history of strange deaths over the years – always three people at a time. He shows Dean a headline from 1954, with a picture of a small crowd surrounding a body, including the little girl who’d discovered it. And Dean hacks into the town’s security cameras and finds footage of the man in the fedora. Sam realizes it’s the same exact man that’s in the 1954 news picture.

They interview the now-adult girl from the picture, and she remembers the man as Mr. Snyder, her parents’ old neighbor. So Dean and Sam go on a stake-out at Snyder’s house, sure that he'll soon kill again. They see him leave, and follow him on foot through town, eventually splitting up, with Sam taking the street and Dean taking the alley.

Dean finds Snyder attacking someone, and a red current of energy emanating from the victim. Dean rushes at them, and Sam arrives just in time to see Dean and the man in the fedora disappear.

Dean struggles with the man on the ground, and notices his ring with a strange emblem on it, just as Snyder jumps up and runs off. Dean pulls his gun and chases him, but loses him on a crowded street – full of people in vintage clothes and old-time cars – one is a police car, and he’s arrested and taken to a police station. A cop questions him, and examines his cell phone, wondering if Dean is some kind of spy. And he tells Dean that his fake FBI badge is from 68 years from now. Counting on his fingers, Dean realizes he’s stuck in the year 1944.

Another enforcement officer comes in to question Dean, and actually believes Dean’s story about the man and the weird red light. Dean figures out that he’s a hunter, and Dean is even more impressed when the man introduces himself as Eliot Ness – of the famed Untouchables. Dean is a total fan boy of the movie The Untouchables, and soon, his anxiety over being stranded in 1944 is replaced by excitement to be working in a real-life version of the movie.

He and Ness compare notes, and team up to hunt the killer. Ness brings Dean to his associate Ezra, and tells her that Dean’s from the future and needs appropriate clothes. She fits Dean out in a dapper suit – Jensen Ackles looks so great in period clothes, and does a great job in conveying Dean’s ability to adapt to his new surroundings. Ezra helps them research Snyder's ring – it belongs to Chronos, the God of Time (played by Jason Dohring) and he can be killed by a stake through the heart.

Meanwhile, Sherriff Jody helps Sam with research, using the recently-deceased Bobby’s old metaphysical books and papers, and bonding over the shared loss of their friend. They too, figure out that Snyder, the man in the fedora, is actually Chronos. They find a spell they can use to summon the god, but Sam realizes that they need to summon Chronos when Dean is right there with him, so they can bring both of them back together, or else Dean will be stranded in 1944.

Back in 1944, Dean and Ness track Snyder/Chronos to a local bar, so they set up a stake-out, and talk about hunting while they’re waiting for him to appear. Ness got into hunting while on a case where vampires were turning people – he straightforwardly says that hunting sets him free. Dean says he’s lost so many people that he doesn’t even know why he does it anymore. But Ness sets him straight – he says that everybody dies, but with hunting you can make a difference in this life.

I really liked Dean and Ness’ interaction with each other – Dean’s thrill at working with one of his movie heroes turns into respect for the real-life counterpart. And Ness gives Dean a sense of perspective and purpose that he hasn’t felt in awhile. Dean also learns that the real-life 1944 isn’t like the movies, in some humorous scenes.

Dean’s love of the movies helps him figure out a way to communicate with Sam through time, though, when he gets an idea from Back to the Future III. I loved this sequence of scenes, and the way they show that the brothers’ connection surpasses time and place. And I loved the writers’ clever way of bringing Dean, Sam and their allies together in the same place across the decades, for the final confrontation with Chronos.

Chronos is an interesting and complex villain, with a fatal flaw in his god-powers, and an undercurrent of human emotion that proves to be his undoing. Chronos has the last word, though, giving Dean and Sam an unsettling prophecy of a future filled with doom.

All in all, I thought that "Time After Time" was "awesome," as Dean says throughout the episode. It made great use of the device of time travel to tell an engrossing supernatural story, while raising the stakes of Dean and Sam’s possible permanent separation from each other. Of course, they’re the stars of Supernatural, so that could never happen, at least not at this point in the series. But their worry that it might actually happen was believable. And I liked the idea that even though they’ve time-travelled before, it’s not so commonplace that they take it lightly. Even though it’s clear that Dean gets some enjoyment from his excursions into different periods of time.

I also loved the idea that hunters have always existed throughout time – from the gunsmith Samuel Colt in the wild-west episode, to the Untouchables’ Elliot Ness in the ‘40s. By mixing its own version of history with its supernatural hunter mythology, Supernatural does a great job of grounding its fantasy in reality, making the show believable and relatable to its viewers and fans, like me.

I can only hope that my own time travel stories will be as entertaining, believable and relatable to the readers that I hope to have, one day in time.

What Luck Revisited

January 14, 2012 –

I haven’t posted a blog all this week – I hate to get off to a bad start so soon into the new year, but I’ve been really tired and haven’t felt very well all week. I haven’t done much besides work and rest. And I haven’t worked much on any of my writing projects since the new year started.

But this morning, I got a jolt of motivation. I saw an online SCBWI announcement about a local writing event in March that I’ve been looking forward to – a “first page” conference, where writers will have a chance to get the opening page of their book project read and critiqued by an editor or an agent. And registration has begun.

I printed out the information and registration form, so I can mail it in the next couple of days. And all day at work, I thought about what first page to include. My writing has been pretty much on hold since the beginning of the busy retail holiday season in November. But I made a writing goal on New Year’s Day – to commit to at least one writing project and to finish at least a first draft of it this year.

The story that’s been in the forefront of my mind since then is my time-travel novel, in which the main character meets up with her twenty-years-younger self and then inadvertently changes places with her. But its themes are of missed opportunities, regret, and second chances – it’s not for young readers.

I do have a couple of teen time-travel novel ideas, but I’m in the early, note-taking and character-building stages of them – I haven’t really thought much of how to start those stories yet.

But I also have a story that’s already been started – I actually got about halfway through the first draft of it before back-burnering it a couple of years ago. It’s What Luck, a novel I wrote for tweens (pre-teen and early teen readers) about a girl whose superstitious great-grandmother influences her to become obsessed with following rituals in an attempt to have some control over her increasingly overwhelming life. I’ve had the first fifteen pages of the manuscript critiqued over the past few years, by an editor, an author, and an agent, to mixed reviews. (The editor and author gave it favorable feedback; the agent wasn’t as helpful.) I even outlined the ending, with help from my author friend Kim Sabatini, when we were at the SCBWI conference in New York City two winters ago.

And last week, when I had lunch with Kim, I mentioned that I was thinking of revisiting What Luck. She thought it was a good idea – she said that I’ve already put a lot of work into it, and if I can get back into writing it and commit to the story, I could probably finish a first draft in less than a year. I told her I’m considering it.

So, tonight I went into my desktop What Luck file, and read through the first chapter. It’s actually not too bad – I think that if I have enough incentive, and give it the attention it deserves, I might be able to make it into a viable manuscript.

I tweaked the first page a bit, and, even though I think that just one page can’t really do justice to the overall plot of the book, I do think the opening is pretty good and hopefully will be interesting enough for a reader to want to know more about the story and what happens next.

So I’m going to send in the first page of What Luck along with my registration for the conference. And then I’ll get all of my notes and files and written pages together, and read through it all. And once I’ve revisited my story, hopefully I’ll have a better idea of how to further develop its characters and plot, and move it along to its end. At the least, it will be a project that should keep me busy through the upcoming long months until spring!

And, hopefully, when it’s finished, I’ll have some good luck with What Luck.

(wrote blog post on Saturday, January 14; posted on Sunday, January 15)

Friday's Flashback - Winter Student

Instead of following the traditional start of college in the Fall semester, I was a Winter student when I went away to school at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, at the beginning of January, '81.

I hadn’t planned it that way. Growing up, it was always assumed that I would graduate from high school – Franklin D. Roosevelt High in Hyde Park, NY – and then attend Dutchess, the local community college, for two years. I would major in English and get an Associate’s Degree, and then transfer to the nearest state college, in New Paltz, to finish my Bachelor’s Degree in English and Journalism.

But I abruptly changed my plans during my senior year. I was feeling overwhelmed by some family problems and wanted to get away and out on my own. And then Scott, my boyfriend during that time, had been accepted to Northeastern, as a journalism major, and he told me about their co-operative education program – a unique curriculum where the academic courses of study are interspersed with paid internships that give students hands-on work experiences and also helps to offset their tuition expenses. I was interested, and as I learned more about NU, I saw that this was an opportunity to go away to a private university in a city atmosphere.

There wasn’t enough time to apply for the Fall, so I applied for the Winter instead. I remember getting the acceptance letter, and feeling like the path of possibilities was wide open. I would study journalism and communications, and hoped that I could get a co-op job at the Boston Globe.

During the Fall and the holiday season, while most everyone I knew who went to college was involved with adjusting to classes and campus life, I was busy working at a retail catalog center, so I could earn some money for school. NU would be expensive, even with a grant and student loan. Scott came home from time to time, and told me about his classes, the campus, and his new friends. But it seemed so remote to me, and I couldn’t wait until the new year, so I could start my new life as a student.

Because of its co-op program, NU operated on an academic quarter calendar, rather than the traditional semesters. So, I was college-bound on the first weekend of January – a couple of weeks earlier than most students. I remember that it was a cold but clear Sunday, and my parents drove both Scott and I and all of my clothes and dorm furnishings, on a 4-hour trip straight across the Mass Pike, until we got to Boston.

My family and I had only been to Massachusetts once, on a camping trip to Plymouth and Cape Cod, but had never been to Boston. I had applied to Northeastern sight-unseen. In hindsight, it was kind of risky, to decide to go to the college without even having a campus trip. But as we got closer to the city, and Scott pointed out some of Boston’s landmarks, like Fenway Park; the “T” trolley trains moving alongside the thruway; the Prudential Tower, known as the “Pru;” and the John Hancock skyscraper, the tallest building in the city, I felt a rising sense of excitement rather than apprehension of moving to a strange place.

Finally, we arrived on campus – gray concrete buildings lining each side of Huntington Avenue; with academic buildings on one side and dormitories on the other side – and my assigned dorm, Stetson West, one of a cluster of 4-story student housing buildings.

My parents and Scott helped me bring all of my stuff inside and up to my dorm room – a basic double, with built-in dresser, twin bed, and desk lined up along each wall and a large picture window facing the grass and concrete courtyard below. My roommate hadn’t arrived yet – she didn’t show up until the next day because she lived nearby – so I just picked a side and got everything settled.

I remember that we walked back down to the parking lot, and I hugged my parents goodbye. My mom was a bit teary-eyed, but I told her not to worry – I’d be just fine. Scott and I hung out for a little while, but then he went to his dorm to catch up with his friends and to get to bed early, because classes started the next day.

I was tired, but too excited to get any rest. I had brought some of my favorite books, and I remember organizing them on the built-in shelves above the desk. I could hear the sounds of students talking as they filled up the hallway outside – of course, they’d started together in the Fall and already knew each other. Then there was a knock on my door.

It was the floor’s resident advisor, a blonde upper-classman – I can’t recall her name right now, but she was nice and welcoming. She said there were a few other girls who were new Winter students on the floor, and beckoned me to follow her down to a dorm room down the hall. She knocked on the open door, and introduced me to the dark-haired girl inside.

Her name was Tracey, and she was a business major from Maryland. Her roommate hadn’t arrived yet, either, so we just hung out together and talked, until it was late. Our backgrounds were different, but we shared similar tastes in books and music, and of course, our Winter student status. I remember turning in for the night, feeling that I’d made the right choice to go to NU.

Classes started the next day, but first I had to get a student ID. I remember exactly what I wore – a cream and burgundy pinstriped shirt; high-waisted baggy jeans with off-white suspenders; and brown high-heeled Candies clogs. I tamed my frizzy hair with a curling iron into the winged style that was still so prevalent then. The picture isn’t very good – the harsh flash made me look really pale, I think – but my smile shows that I was glad to be there.

Right from the start, it wasn’t easy to be away at school in Boston. Classes were a challenge compared to high school – I remember one history class assigning ten books to read and ten papers to write during the 10-week quarter. And the remedial math class that I was required to take was still above my numerically-challenged head. The stresses of over-caffeinated all-night study sessions made me an always-tired insomniac, and didn’t help my ulcer. I didn’t have much spending money, so I couldn’t go out to enjoy Boston as often as other students did. Within the first few weeks, Scott and I broke up, although we did stay friends for awhile. And a couple of weeks after that, my mom called to tell me that my dad was in the hospital after having a heart attack. That was the one thing that made me question what I was doing so far away from my family and home. But when my mom said that he’d be OK; he’d just have to have several months off from work to recover, I decided to stick it out, as long as I could. I felt that it was worth it, and it was.

I really liked my English and communications classes, and did well in them. I read some great modern and classic literature and wrote papers that got good grades. I had some interesting professors – one of my English lit profs was an Ireland buff, and one day, he tossed aside the syllabus to lecture us about the Irish Republican political prisoner Bobby Sands, who’s just died on a hunger strike. Then the professor sang “Danny Boy” as a tribute to the fallen rebel, as us students just sat there, dumbstruck.

I got to see the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science, with reduced student admission. I saw a couple of hockey games (the Northeastern Huskies were on a winning streak that year); basketball games, and a football game. I wrote for the campus newspaper, and contributed to a student literary journal. And there were always dorm parties, nearby frat parties, and a lot of ongoing campus drama, so my friends and I were never bored.

I ended up staying through the Spring, Summer and Fall quarters, until the financial aid requirements changed the following year, and I didn’t have enough money to stay. I did remain in Boston for two more years, before I moved back home. At the time, it felt like a setback, but I slowly grew to appreciate living in the Hudson Valley. It's good to live near my family and to be able to see them whenever I want to. And I've met a lot of great people, and have some good longtime friends.

Ironically, I ended up taking some English and communications classes at Dutchess Community College, as I’d originally planned. And about ten years ago, I completed a two-year journalism program at NYU. And I’ve taken an ongoing small-group writing class and several writing workshops over the years.

I sometimes wish things had turned out differently, and I sometimes think about moving back, especially whenever I visit Boston and realize how much I miss it. But looking back, I’m glad I had that year of school, and that time in Boston. As brief as it was, I learned a lot, both in and out of the classroom. And that’s an education I’ll always appreciate.

(finished writing on Friday January 6)

Kim Sabatini's book Touching The Surface Surfaces as an Advance Readers Copy

This afternoon, I had lunch with my newly-published author friend Kim Sabatini. We planned to meet at Sugar and Spice, a cafe in the same plaza that my boyfriend Ian works in.

I was waiting on a bench outside the café, when Kim came rushing breathlessly down the mall hallway, clutching a large mailing envelope in her hand. She said she was so glad that she received it this morning, in time for lunch so she could share the news with me, as she pulled out a paperback Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of her book, Touching The Surface!

Then we were squealing and hugging, and I was congratulating her over and over again – I was so happy to see this new major milestone in her journey to her book’s publication – truly as excited as if it was happening to me.

It was awesome to actually touch a printed and bound copy of Touching The Surface!

I can’t wait to read it in its finished form – I almost wanted to skip lunch and just start reading!

After a couple of hours of good food and eager chatter, we visited Ian at the photo lab that he manages, showed him the ARC, and asked him to take a picture of us with it, to mark this special day.

Kim is one of the best people I know, and a wonderful writer too – she and her book are so deserving of publication. When her father passed away several years ago, she was inspired to create a story about a teen girl’s experiences in the afterlife, and soon after, joined our local chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, for its local ShopTalk meetings.

With her optimistic outlook and exuberant energy, Kim has added so much to our SCBWI group. From the start, she’s been eager to learn everything about writing, and the children's and teens book markets, and she has hopefully shared her promising book with everyone in the group, as she wrote it from its earliest stages to its in-shape-for-submission manuscript. And she’s appreciated every opinion, bit of feedback, and piece of advice that she received. I could tell right away that her story was special – heartfelt and well-written – and had no doubts that one day it would be a success.

She has also given positive and encouraging critiques of my writings and those of the other writers in the group. She’s been an ardent admirer of the publishing successes of Karen Kaufman Orloff (author of the picture books I Wanna Iguana; I Wanna New Room and If Mom Had Three Arms); Della Ross Ferreri (author of the picture books Star of the Show; Picnic on the Sidewalk and How Will I Ever Sleep in This Bed?) and Roxanne Werner, whose children’s story, “Snowday in Space” was Highlight Magazine’s 2008 Fiction Contest winner. And she’s been a vibrant presence at every local SCBWI writing conference, since the first one she attended in 2007.

As her book manuscript progressed, Kim has shared each step, big and small – from her spiritual writing epiphanies to her revision challenges to her 33 queries in the search for an agent. Almost exactly a year ago, she signed with agent Michelle Wolfson, who sold Touching The Surface to editor Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, the teen imprint of Simon & Schuster, in mid-February. As Kim has shared her wonderful news with those of us in the Shop Talk group, as well as with her family and other friends, she’s always made sure to let everyone know how instrumental they were in contributing to her writing success. She’s written over four pages of Acknowledgments for her book, and she was so excited to show me my name in her thank-yous. This meant so much to me – I told her it was such an honor to see my name printed there, and to be able to share in her writing success!

And Kim has helped me so much with my writing, as a reader and editor of my works-in-progress; an understanding support system when I’ve felt directionless; a cheerful cheerleader when I’ve overcome some of my (mostly self-imposed) writing hurdles and have made some progress; and a great companion at two of the SCBWI conferences in NYC. She’s confident that I can see a book project through to the end, and sure that I’ll have my own writing success in time.

(Kim and I at the 2010 SCBWI NYC conference - all photos courtesy of Kim Sabatini.)

And that gives me even more incentive to keep writing, through all the ups and downs of my creative journey and book-project excursions. Because I want to give Kim a reason to be as proud of me as I am of her and her amazing writing.

So here it is – the beautiful cover of Touching the Surface.

And the appealing, intriguing back-jacket copy:

“Life-altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed… and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the pieces of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves… even if it means losing them both forever.”

(Book cover and jacket copy courtesy of Kim Sabatini and Simon Pulse.)

I can’t wait until this coming September, to be able to buy a copy of Touching The Surface (and asking Kim to sign it, of course!) and to be able to read every page of what I know is an excellent and very special work of art and heart.

Kim has a far-reaching online presence, including her soon-to-be active website; her blog at http://kimberlysabatini.blogspot.com; her author page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Sabatini/159269477461554; her Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/KimSabatini; and her Tumblr at http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/kim-sabatini. Her positive personality sparkles as much online as it does in person.

Congratulations, Kim, on your latest writing milestone, and thanks again for sharing it with me! ♥

Wednesday On Writing - Writing With "Dragon"

I'm trying out this Dragon Naturally Speaking speech-recognition dictation program again. I haven't used it since Ian got his new computer, but just before New Year’s, he hooked it up for me and helped me with the set up. He also loaded it into my laptop, so ideally, I should be able to write anywhere and not just at this desktop computer. I hope it will help me to be more productive with my writing, especially since I've been having recurring pain and numbness with my shoulder, arm and hand. It figures that of all places for me to have pain it would have to be my writing arm.

It's definitely a little weird using this program. I have to train it to understand and interpret my voice and that's not easy because I tend to talk fast, and, with my long-time sinus problem, my voice is nasally. The last time I used the program, to type Michelle's first draft of her Blackboard book a few years back, there were all kinds of odd little typos and misinterpretations. It was pretty funny!

And it's also a little strange dictating my words into a microphone rather than writing them out in longhand or typing them. When I think of dictation, I picture some kind of retro-era businessman or professor or pompous autobiographer walking around his office, telling his secretary what to write in a business letter, classroom plan, or memoir., And the secretary furiously scribbling in shorthand or speed typing at over hundred words per minute.

But, with the recent developments in voice activation technology, anyone should be able to use it for any form of writing, as shown in the Dragon commercials currently on cable TV. And in many cases it can be easier to use Dragon, rather than traditional methods of writing.

After all, what is writing anyway but a form of communication? I guess I have to get over the idea that writing must be done with a pen or a computer keyboard. There have been some amazing works written with nontraditional methods, by authors who have been disabled in some way. Stephen Hawking has written many science books by twitching his facial muscle at letters on a computer screen until those letters make up words and sentences. The Irish author Christy Brown, who had severe cerebral palsy, wrote several books using just his left foot – as depicted in the biographical movie, My Left Foot. And Helen Keller wrote her many essays and books on a Braille typewriter and also used a manual alphabet to dictate her words into the hands of her editor.

I would never think to compare myself in any way to these remarkable and renowned people – I’m just mentioning them to back up the fact that writing can be done in many different forms. And I’m very grateful that my pain condition is not a serious disability.

But at the same time, I’m also glad there’s a program like Dragon, to make writing a bit more manageable and less frustrating, when I’m not able to use the pen or keyboard. And I hope I can become adept in using it, and that it will help me to be more successful in accomplishing my writing goals this year, and in the future.

New Year's Writing Goals for 2012

January 1, 2012 - 9:30 pm

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

My friend Michelle e-mailed this quote as a New Year’s greeting to me and her other friends. I related to it right away, and wrote back to her, saying that I’m making this my mantra for the New Year.

The quote was sent to her as a New Year’s newsletter from Infinity Publishing, a self-publishing house. It wasn’t ascribed to anyone, so I did a Google search on it. Renowned self-improvement author Napoleon Hill said, “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” But the actual wording of the Infinity Publishing quote is attributed to Diana Scharf Hunt, the author of some study guides for students, and a book that sounds really interesting to me – The Tao of Time.

The description of the book says, "Drawing on the timeless wisdom of the East, The Tao of Time provides a whole new approach to time management that gives the reader productivity as well as freedom and fulfillment. With visualizations, awareness exercises, and examples from executives and time-study experts, this book will help readers manage and enjoy their entire life."

It seems to be out-of-print, but I think I want to try to find a used copy to order. Time management is always an issue for me, and I think the Eastern approach would be good for my right-brained, ADD way of thinking.

And I have the quote in mind, as I’m once again creating a list of writing goals for the New Year. Many are the same ones that I’ve made and written in my past blog posts each January 1^st. I feel like the proverbial resolution-makers and breakers, who each year promise themselves they’ll lose weight or quit smoking or save more money, only to find themselves back to start at the beginning of the next year.

But today, on the first day of 2012, I’m feeling more committed to my writing goals, as well as my general goals of each New Year, like taking better care of my health and spending more quality time with my family and friends. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been feeling well lately, so I’m more aware that I’m getting older and am not physically as young as I mentally and emotionally feel. Or maybe it’s because I can remember past New Year’s Eves and Days from years ago, as clearly as if they were just last year. I feel like time moves by faster than I can measure or keep up, and I can’t get it back again. So I want to actually make some progress this year – with my writing goals especially.

As always, I want to finish at least one of my book projects. Last year, I did pretty well with my teen novel, disAPPEAR, especially during “March Madness – Writer’s Style,” the novel-in-a-month writing challenge I took on with my writing friends Michelle, Lisa and Janine. But I ended up putting that project on the back-burner, because it seemed way too close to my real-life teen years for comfort.

I’ve thought about getting back to What Luck, my tween novel – I was more than halfway through the first draft before shelving it a couple of years ago. So I might take a look at it and see what I can do to finish it.

I also have a teen time-travel novel, inspired by the Dover Stone Church, in mind, and a different time-travel scenario for a small series of teen books. I’ve done some early research and made notes on each of them, but don’t know yet which one to start first.

But the story that’s held my attention and interest the most lately is my adult time-travel novel, about the woman who meets up with her 20-years-younger self, and inadvertently switches places with her. I haven’t had much time for actual writing in the past few months, mostly because of the hectic retail holiday season at work, but I have done some online research and I’ve written some plot notes and character sketches. So for now, that’s the story I’ll focus on the most. And I’ll do my best to see it through to the end of at least a first draft, this year.

I also plan to keep up with my journal writing, as often as possible. Ideally, I’d like to write Morning Pages every day, based on Julia Cameron’s program in her book, The Artist’s Way. But it will be fine if I can write in my journal at least 4 – 5 mornings or nights a week.

And then there’s this blog. In past years, I started a brand new blog each January 1^st. But I kept the same blog from 2009 – 2010, and this year, I’m continuing this one. I think the consistency will help my writing. But I want to post much more frequently, so I think I want to try a posting schedule, like I’ve seen in many other blogs.

Several blogs use alliterative post titles, like “Tuesday’s Thoughts” and “Wordless Wednesdays.” So I’m going to try something like that. I’ll start off with three posts a week: “Monday’s Muse” – about something that inspires my writing, or the time-travel themes of some of my books. And “Wednesday on Writing” – an update on my writing projects, or something I’ve read or found out about an author, book trends, or publishing in general. And “Flashback Friday” – a memory of something that happened during the same week in my past. I’ll probably write some other posts too, any time there’s something significant going on that pertains to writing or creativity. So I’ll see how that works out.

And my deadline for accomplishing these writing goals will be by this time, next year. So hopefully, my post for that New Year's Day will be about these dreams becoming a reality.

Happy 2012 New Year, everyone!