January 2021

2021 And The Power Of Writing

If there is anything that we have learned in the past little while, it's that unexpected things can create a lot of change in our world. And for the first time since the pandemic began, we have a glimmer of hope in the form of a new calendar year. A fresh start.

We look to the new year as a well-earned reboot. We are older and wiser after the challenges we faced in 2020. We have been ships adrift. Because we desperately want the new year to go more smoothly than the last, we are scrutinizing the patterns and ideas that we will manifest in 2021. Many of us are going back to the drawing board to re-examine our habits, our hopes, and our daily lives.

We ask ourselves questions, like:

• Are there habits or patterns that need to be changed? 
• Yes. Unless we are living our best life, a life where we are achieving our goals and "succeeding" (however that looks to us) there is ALWAYS a habit or a pattern that needs to change.
• Are there situations that frustrate us? 
•  As long as face masks are here to stay and social distancing is required, we are going to feel frustrated. But beyond the pandemic, it's important to look into the future and consider the best life we want to be living, and the frustrating minutiae in our daily lives that keeps us from attaining that life sooner. Perhaps there is an obstacle preventing you from publishing and getting on the NYT Bestseller list, or formatting the artwork for your children's book, or committing to a daily writing habit.
• Is there room for improvement? 
• Yes. Maybe we need to find the "spark" of inspiration to start writing again. Move on from a story that has stymied us. Find a way to come up with fresh ideas for our stories. Develop a method to store our ideas. Believe in our ability to write the story.

Welcome to 2021. This is the year to answer these questions, conquer the frustrations, and improve.

Perhaps we can declutter a space in our home, build a new exercise habit, or read more of the books on our bookshelf instead of just dusting them. Or we can finally start that inspiration notebook, or start a file folder to fill with ideas...for when we can write again someday.

Brigham City Writers is a talented group. Our writing has brought a variety of positive feedback. And we continue to feel the call to write. Perhaps the urge is stronger than ever before. We want to bring joy and positivity to an audience that is burdened by the challenges of this new decade, an audience that is starving for connection and distraction.

We feel the burdens, too. Many of us sit down to write only to be haunted by the ten other things we think we should be doing instead of writing. We are busy sanitizing, mask-wearing, waiting for curbside delivery, keeping up on the news...blah, blah, blah! 

Be the Creative you were born to be.

But, when we push those stressors aside and reacquaint ourselves with our inner-writer, we find the same magic that soothes our souls, the same magic that will brighten the world with our articles, poetry, nursery rhymes, short stories, novels, and children's books.

We find inspiration in a blank page. In songs and pictures and stories and nature and architecture. We find inspiration in the questions that life creates. The whys. The shoulds. The unexplainables. Things that might seem boring, strange, obvious, or dumb. If it elicits emotion, it's a worthy inspiration. 

"The dumber it is, the more we should write it down!" - McKel Jensen

So take a notebook, and create a Commonplace Notebook. Carry it with you, so you can catch those snippets of inspiration that find you. Keep an idea file to turn to in times when you're feeling uninspired. 

So do something brave, or perform a mundane task. Listen to music, or go someplace quiet. Take a walk. Carry a Commonplace Notebook. Quilt or crochet or paint or dance. Work through the Mental Blocks. The Emotional Barriers. The Shoulds. The work habits that don't work. The Personal Problems. The Overwhelm. And get back to writing. The world needs you.

Best and warmest wishes,

Val Steadman

Brigham City Writers Chapter President

This post was inspired by our January 2021 digital meeting. Reach out to BCWriters2@gmail.com if you would like a link to attend February's meeting.