I've been reading both personal resolutions and writing goals, and I've decided to combine mine into a single guiding principle:
Create happiness.
Creating happiness means:
I will make the things that makes me happy. It may be a novel, a picture book, a short story, or a drawing -- if I am expressing something, that is enough.
I will make things to make others happy. Writing what I want does not mean I'm talking to myself. I can't guarantee that everything will be published -- no one can! -- but I'll think of what a reader or viewer would like and write for them.
I will try to make other people happy. First is my family -- I won't let my goals and struggles get in the way. I will aim to make them happy, and I will also reach out more to others as well and grow the circle of the people in my life.
I will create happiness in myself. I can't make problems or sadness disappear but I will strive to appreciate the good that I have and live in the moments I have been given.
How much clearer it would be to post a word count goal! Reach it or fall
short, words end up the page either way. But creating happiness is only a
principle, and it's ambiguous by design.
The worlds we write carry over into the real world, for ourselves and our readers. I aim to increase my creative output this year without shutting the door. Mine will not be a refuge or flight from real life, and I will not let writing be a struggle that wears me down. I hope to find flow, joy, and peace in the creative process and create greater happiness in myself and others.
About Kell Andrews: Kell Andrews writes picture books and middle grade novels. Deadwood,
her middle-grade contemporary fantasy about a cursed tree, comes out
from Spencer Hill Middle Grade in June 2014.
2 comments:
There are some good ideas on how happiness can be achieved here. The more that humanity progresses, the more we start to realise that pursuing self fulfilling goals doesn't always make us happy - sometimes even the opposite. What does seem to bring people a huge amount of well being though is helping others. That is something that should be encouraged a lot more. There is an app on the internet that can also help to make people happy. It is called the Y55 happiness trainer and it can be viewed on the following link: http://y55happy.com/
I love the idea of creating happiness!
One thing that may trip you up, however, is the goal to make others happy. With the exception of small children, each of us can only make ourselves happy - as much as we want to do that for the people we love!
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