Taking the time to dream...

It is the time of year when most people look back on the past twelve months and think about their hopes and dreams for the New Year. I have been very lucky this year both personally and professionally. As a mother, I am thankful for the love and the immense joy my children and family bring to my life. As a writer, I fufilled my dream of having a novel published, and was lucky to sign a contract for the publication of another!

I hope 2013 brings yet new contracts and new adventures, because every story I write is for me a fantastic, thrilling adventure...but I am yet to complete any of the three new ms I started with great enthusiasm in 2012. The problem has been the lack of time - time to sit down and write, but more than anything, the lack of time to relax, think, wonder. Time to dream and work things out in my head before I actually write.

I know this is down to holding a full-time teaching post these past few months, but I am not the only writer who works full-time and has a family to look after! So what happened? I have developed this terrible anxiety to make every single minute of 'writing time' count. So when I finally sit down at the computer in the evening, I rush into the story because I feel I must make the most of the little time I have. The result is that more often than not, I'm dissatisfied with what I've written and delete everything. I then end up frustrated and even more anxious.What if I never complete another story?

So this has got to be my writing resolution for 2013.

To take the time to dream, even if it means not typing or writing a single word! To forget about the pressure to write so many words every day. To let my mind wander, follow improbable paths, enter a world of fantasy and infinite possibilities.

Because good things do happen when you follow dreams and improbable paths. At least sometimes.

If there's one thing I learned this year, it's that dreaming is never a waste of time. Rushing is.

Happy 2013! Bonne Annee.