In 2016, I resolve to…
1. Write 22 comic pages per month
Over the past few months, I’ve been learning the art of writing comic book scripts. I’m currently working with a writing partner and artist (the collaborative project I alluded to back in August) on an original series that we hope to shop around and/or crowdfund sometime next year, as well as a few scripts on my own.
In my early career as an indie comic creator, one great resource has been /r/ComicBookCollabs on Reddit. The subreddit moderator there posed 22 pages a month as the New Year’s Resolution challenge to the community. 22 pages is the length of an average issue, so fulfilling this task would be comparable to the work one would do on a monthly comic.
I’ve really enjoyed writing comic scripts so far. As far as resolutions go, this one is great in that I’m actually excited and raring to start! Should be a fun way to get into a monthly comic mindset, especially with the community accountability through /r/ComicBookCollabs.
2. Write (at least) one blog post per week
I know, I know. I’m terrible at keeping a steady blog schedule. Some months I’ll post a bunch, and then I’ll disappear for weeks at a time. The worst.
So we’ll keep it simple: One blog post a week. That should be manageable, right?
3. Write “something” every single day
As someone who fancies herself a writer, I’m not very good about writing. Sure, I do a lot of brainstorming and note-taking and researching and planning. But the actual creation of content? The actual sit-down-and-write-ing of it all? I’m pretty bad at doing that daily.
So, in 2016, I resolve to write “something” every day. Be it a blog post, a prose piece, a comic script… whatever — I resolve to write every. single. day.
4. Produce and/or share something
The thing about resolutions is that they’re useless without accountability. I could very well promise to do all of these things and let them slide without anyone knowing. Especially since (apart from this blog and short responses to prompts on Reddit) I am unpublished as a writer.
So instead of hiding away due to fear of being inadequate, I’m going to start sharing my creations with the public. While I have high hopes for the comic project I am working on with the aforementioned team, I’ll probably start producing content on my own before that gets off the ground.
Haven’t quite figured out how I want to start sharing content yet. Current thoughts are: submitting short prose pieces and/or comic scripts to online publishers or anthologies with open submissions, writing and producing a low-budget audio-drama, or making a webcomic with my mediocre art skills. I have already started working on all of these possibilities (my fear of inadequacy has not yet overcome the early stage of creative optimism), and hope to get “something” out as an example of my work within the next year. There’s a high probability that many of these ideas will crash and burn (e.g., while I’ve done some amateur voice acting, I know next to nothing about sound production, so the audio drama thing may be a complete pipe-dream without garnering a lot of extra help), but they all really interest me & pique my creative spirit. So I’ll keep exploring all my options until something sticks. If all else fails, I may just start posting short fiction here on the blog. Guess we’ll see!
5. Read more
I’ve always believed in the idea that to be a creator of good content, you should also be a consumer of it. This year, I watched a lot of television and movies, listened to a lot of podcasts, and (in the latter months) read quite a few comics. The amount of book reading I did, however, was unfortunately rather slim.
Books were my first love. They were my gateway to imagination and creativity, and it saddens me to realize how few novels I actually finished this year. I constantly buy books; my shelf overflows with each addition to my To-Read list. I hope this next year I can put a dent in that list.
I’ve really delved into reading comic books this past year, which has been a blast. I’m currently into a lot of Image and Marvel titles (and signed up for Marvel Unlimited, which is awesome), and hope to read more indie & DC series next year as well.
Since I’m newish to the whole scene, I’ve basically been binging on comic books, and don’t see me slowing down anytime soon. So I don’t think I’ll put a benchmark goal on that. In regards to prose novels though… maybe a book a month? That should be manageable, right? I know many people put their reading goals way above that, but given the amount of writing I hope to do and my propensity for procrastinating/making poor use of my time, I’ll set the bar at a lower, more reasonable setting for me personally.
So, those are my writing resolutions for 2016!
Hopefully this blog will keep me accountable. I’ll try to check in every once and awhile to let you know how things are going 🙂 How about you? Any writing-centric New Year’s Resolutions? Let me know in the comments!
Happy New Year! 😀
Wise the Simple 