DEAR SELF --- by Jane Kelley

Oh what a year 2016 has been! So many beloved artists died. Politics were (and are) excruciatingly painful. My individual problems are small by comparison. But writing is one way to make a difference. I need to do it well! 

This year has been a series of false starts, postponed projects, and too much frustration. I always try to learn from my mistakes. So I ask myself, what should I have done differently? Or perhaps, more to the point, what should I do differently in 2017?

Don’t second guess your work. I count EIGHT projects that never even made it to the end of the first draft! Sometimes starting over is wise. But ideas need to be developed. Don't be so quick to quit on them. In other words, write the darn book BEFORE you pass judgment. 

Hoe your own row. Another person's crop may be growing faster, but someone else's crop has barely come up at all.  Let other people’s successes inspire you. And let other people’s struggles remind you to be grateful.

Trust your power.  It's all there. The moon has lit your path. You have the fire of ambition. You have a vast sea of emotions and ideas. You hold a magic wand and a symbolic sword––the means to write across the sky.