Setting creative goals that work
My friend Elizabeth told me that I should listen to the Oprah SuperSoul Conversations podcast with poet Mark Nepo, and she was right. Everything about the interview is great, but I was especially struck when he said this: "One of the interesting things is that in our culture...if someone is good at something, we tell them...if I write, someone says 'you should be a writer.' If someone loves the land, we say, 'oh, you should be a gardener.' If someone sings: 'you should be a singer.' However, we're being turned into a noun, when the aliveness is in staying a verb."
What is it you love doing? Are you content doing it, without worrying about becoming the noun associated with it? Do you love to write, or is all your focus on being a writer? I see people at this time of year set goals for themselves like "get an agent" or "get a book deal" or "get on the New York Times bestseller list." Those aren't goals, they're dreams. Hopes. You can still have them, but they're not goals, because you can't make them happen. Are you setting goals for yourself that are out of your control? I worry you're going to be disappointed if they don't happen, because you're going to think you failed, when those hopes aren't really in your control. Instead remember that what you do control is the verb, and that you can work on that verb in such a way that you are doing all you can to make your dream happen. If you want an agent, you can write and revise until your manuscript is submittable, and then make a goal of submitting to five agents a week (or whatever number) (and if you're a picture book writer, your goal should be to have three submittable picture books before you start querying agents). But you can't make an agent sign you, or woo an editor into acquiring your book, or force the reading public to buy thousands of copies of your book at bookstores that report their numbers to the New York Times.
You can set up a plan to be the noun. But the verb comes first. Getting better at your verb, your craft, your passion (whatever it may be) is what you can control, and what will sustain you. People buy your book because the writing is good. They listen to your music because they love to have your voice in their ears.
There are definitely reasons to promote yourself (I mean, hi! here I am writing a newsletter to you), and to make bookmarks to give to people so they remember you, and to make videos, and be witty on social media. But don't forget to do your verb too, okay? Do the work. That's the most important part. Ultimately what sells your creative wonder is the work you put into it, not the cute video you made. (Obligatory link to my YouTube channel, I suppose, why not?)
Ideas coming into focus
We went skiing on New Year's Day. I'm recovering from rotator cuff surgery, so I didn't ski, but stood at the bottom of the mountain and made sure no one died or got lost.
One thing I noticed, after standing there for seven hours keeping everyone alive through sheer maternal will, was that I could tell which skiers were my family even if they were very far away. The stance, the posture, they were all so familiar to me, that even if they were tiny little toy ski people far up on the top of the mountain, I knew it if they were one of my people.
I feel this way about ideas too. I recently reread Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (the ebook is only $1.99 right now! Here it is on Kindle and Nook) and remembered how happy I was when I first read it, because she wrote a beautiful book that completely articulated everything I feel about the writing process. And one thing I believe is that creative ideas are swirling in the air around us at all times, and it's our job to pay attention.
Sometimes I'm outside, taking a walk, and I'll see an idea, and it's clear that it's not for me. It'll be a time travel fantasy, for instance. I'll pay attention to that idea for a few minutes, trying it out, but an idea like that, I know it's not mine. That idea is waiting for someone else.
But when I see an idea that is mine, I know. Or I'm pretty sure I know. It might be small, or very far away, but something about it seems like it's mine. It's familiar. That stance, that posture, I recognize it. The other idea was someone else's, but this one is for me.
So don't get discouraged if you grabbed someone else's idea by mistake. It happens. If you're working with an idea and you feel kind of wishy-washy about it (even while acknowledging what a great idea it is!), you can let it go. Release it back into the wild so that the idea that is yours can come to you. Because when it's your idea? You'll know. And you have to be ready to grab it and play.
Pre-order time!
The next book in the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series will be here in a few short weeks, on January 29th! I'm still waiting on a few things that will go in the pre-order swag packages, and I'll share that information as soon as I have everything. But for now, if you have pre-ordered Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Start a Club by Accident ("Fans of the first should enjoy this second hijinks-filled outing of this school story/animal fantasy hybrid" says Kirkus Reviews), you can email your receipt and address to julie@juliefalatko.com (or reply to this email) and I'll add you to the list of people who will get mail from me soon!
