I know it’s been a few weeks since I last posted. I’ve been thinking about how to word this post properly.
The beginning of a new year brings with it people making resolutions to change their lives. You’ll find no resolutions like lose 20 pounds this year or workout twice a week here. All they take time and a little discipline.
My resolution is significantly more difficult. I resolve to address and remove any and all hurdles that hinders my creativity. I’ll deal with the petty day-to-day problems and move on. Dwelling on them gains me nothing. As far as future concerns go, events must play out. Fretting about them is a waste of time and energy.
The far bigger issue is the ghosts of the past. For too long, I’ve run from them, not wanting to deal with the pain and hurt. No longer. I’ve stopped running and have allowed them to catch me. As it turns out, they aren’t as big and bad as they first appeared.
Besides being unhealthy, these ghosts blocked access to a large well of emotion. Time and again, critiques of my writing point to the lack of going deep enough into the my characters’ thoughts. I refuse to allow this to be a problem going forward. An unexpected positive in this process is that I’ve rediscovered many pleasant memories hidden by painful events that I hadn’t come to terms with.
I recognize that this is an ongoing process, and at times, it will be difficult. But it is necessary, not only for my writing but for my own growth.
I’m an author living in northern Virginia with a wife and a cat. In the late ’80s, I worked on the International Space Station project. I recently retired from managing a group of software engineers to focus on writing science fiction and speculative fiction. Learn more.