Do you ever wonder where the hell you're going? I've never liked traveling without a map--or these days my GPS--and yet I often forge ahead through life with few or no long range plans. Seems crazy I suppose, but then again I avoid the disappointment of plans that get screwed up.
Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what's your plan to get there?
This question ties in with the question asked in my previous post, What Does Retirement Look Like For You? Since I am retired now, any thoughts of a future writing career are certainly tied into my life in retirement as it is.
Then there is a question of will I be around in five years? I live with the intent of going strong for many years to come, but then I look at my father who suddenly left his life before he even actually retired from his job. I don't think he was planning on such a quick earthly departure, but it happened to him just as it can unpredictably happen to me, you, or anyone.
Do I have a writing career ahead of me? Will I even still be blogging if I reach that five years in question? My life strategy has been to not have much of a strategy. I live, I learn, I forget, and tomorrow comes before I realize that today has passed and yesterdays are distant memories that are more like pages from a book than any actual life I've lived.
I've lived a life worth living and continue onward as though it will never end. There are few plans for me other than I plan to have fish for dinner tonight, have company coming over for dinner on Saturday, and in a couple of weeks my kids and grandkids are coming to visit for Christmas. But that latter plan seems like a long time right now. Five years is forever, but it is also like a blink of an eye.
Perspectively speaking, I'm lousy at writing as a business. And sadly in a way, I don't particularly have much concern about it. Happily, I have a contentment with life and an optimism for the good things ahead, if not in this world, in the infinite eternity of God's grace.
I'll write as the spirit moves me and if writing success is somewhere in the years ahead then that is exactly what was meant to be. For now though, the spirit is moving me to clean the kitchen and straighten up my office. Then after a good night's sleep tonight, I'll look forward to another great day of being alive.
Battle of the Bands Results
In some ways my previous Battle using the song "Scandinavian Shuffle" provided a somewhat unexpected outcome. But then maybe it should not have been any real surprise. I think both versions that I used are extremely good. My dilemma of choosing a favorite is so difficult that I'm tempted to forego making the choice at all. And either way I choose would be of no consequence to the outcome of this highly lopsided contest. Therefore I'm going to go with the big winner which was the vocal ensemble Real Group.
I'm usually partial to violin music, but I do enjoy a good a cappella group. So did most of the voters in this Battle...
Final Vote Tally
Real Group 18 votes
Next Battle on Thursday December 15th
In my next Battle I'll be staying within the Christmas spirit without resorting to actual Christmas songs. You'll probably be familiar with the song I'll be using which may or may not be derived from another musical piece with which you may not be familiar. However before we get to that Battle I'll be continuing with a couple more posts in my President Trump Acclimation Series--yes, I'm continuing with this as long as I keep seeing silliness online, on television, and elsewhere. Wow, that could be a long, long time. Then again I might just get fed up and move into the wilderness, off the grid, and surviving off the land. Probably not, but you never know.
What do you foresee in your life five years from now? Are you a careful planner or do you just live relatively randomly? Are you optimistic about the coming year?
