February Air
Hello everyone! How did your Januaries go? It seems like the general consensus across friends and strangers alike was that it was a very long month. And in some ways, for me, it was! But I still found ways to pass the time.
Poetry
My main goal for the first half of this year is to finish up some projects that have been left incomplete. One of these projects was a poetry collection, which I wrote the majority of about four or five years ago. What I’ve noticed about my poetry is I require some distance to really assess the works and determine which should stay and which should go or be edited down/rewritten.
I’ve been feeling over the past year or so that the time has come where I can look at these works objectively. But I was prioritizing revising my novel Be True above everything, so I didn’t have a chance to work on it. Now, I finally have a chance to!
I’ve spent the past month reviewing the poems that I wrote for this third collection. I also found a folder that was intended for a collection I ultimately scrapped on my computer. There were a few usable poems in the mix that fit with this collection’s theme, so I included some of those as well.
Now, I have a draft I’m quite pleased with. I still need to read it from start to finish and see how everything flows together, but I can already tell this will be my best collection yet!
I will share a cover and title when the time is right, but for now just be on the lookout for further updates!
Learning
One of my other goals for 2025 was to get some editing courses under my belt. I’ve been interested in learning more about editing, for myself as an indie writer and potentially for clients as well. Back in 2020, before everything shut down, I’d planned on taking some continuing studies courses on the subject and enrolled in one with a local college. But then everything shut down, so the course that was meant to be in-person had to be converted to online at the last moment. As a result, I didn’t really enjoy it.
I’d been thinking about trying out an editing course again this past year, and found an online course that seemed better suited to me. This course is on-demand and can be tailored to my schedule, instead of occurring on a specific lecture day and time.
I’m early in the lessons, but so far I’ve learned quite a bit! Having English as my native language, there was a lot about grammar that I never learned in school. I guess it was assumed we’d inherently know what “looks right.” In a lot of ways, I do, but it’s still good to learn the rules. I still have a lot left to learn, too!
In conclusion…
It’s been a productive month for me! I’m hoping I can keep this momentum going forward. I have edits for my novel scheduled for the summer, so I’m trying to get as much done on these other hanging projects as I can leading up to then. Wish me luck!