Tag Archives: Personal Milestone

2020; Day 1: Fresh Endings

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Happy New Year!

Last year I set myself a goal to write a poem each day. To hold myself accountable to that goal, I established this blog. One poem a day for a year. A tall order.

I didn’t quite make it. Life happened, and with it changes, both good and bad, that made it hard to keep up with. I missed a few days, then those missing days snowballed and built up momentum. I didn’t add anything in December.

But I grew a ton! As a writer and a poet and as someone seeking to improve his self discipline, I grew. And with the conclusion of 2019 we usher in 2020 and once more I’m setting forth with the same goal. One poem a day, every day, for the entire year.

Wish me luck. Here I go!

Fresh Endings

Day 234: The Pages Are Almost Gone

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I’m not done yet!

This has been an amazing journey and experiment in he creative process. I’ve missed more days than I’d like but at the same time I’ve written so much more poetry than I ever thought that I could. I’ve now built up a not insubstantial collection of poems.

In so doing, I’ve almost completely filled up my poetry notebook. It’s time for a new one and that both saddens me that I’m done with this one and excites me because I’ll be starting with a new one. Maybe it’s just a writer thing, but that does a little something for me.

The Pages Are Almost Gone

Day 131: Burning Race

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Big changes are occurring in my life. A few frustrating ones. Far more good ones. Hitting goals, adjusting goals, and learning the ebb and flow of this new life I have chosen to live. One of the biggest and most difficult of these lessons has been that success can be disorienting and that’s when it’s most important to get your feet under you and push forward.

Burning Race

Day 124 & Day 125: Stranger’s Embrace, Winding Roads

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Today and yesterday’s poems! I figured another two-fer would be better than a three-fer.

Stranger‘s Embrace

Winding Roads

Day 145: Broken Pieces

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I’ve got a book coming out in a few days. I am both excited and nervous. I put a lot into it, maybe more than anything I’ve done before. It’s winding me in knots. This book is a big risk for me in more ways than one and took me way outside my comfort zone. I’m more invested in its success than anything else I’ve ever written. It’s either going to belly flop into a vat of acid or take off. Here’s hoping it’s got wings.

Broken Pieces

Day 139: The Next Unsteady Step

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The hardest part for me about being a professional creative is the period of time that follows the completion of a project. The world and work doesn’t care that I’m done. I do. I’m tired. But there’s the next phase of the process. Marketing, production, making sure everything is formatted and edited just so. And, of course, there’s a thousand other projects all screaming for my attention.

Today’s work though isn’t just for myself. Some dear friends are experiencing something similar. They’ve undergone an impressive journey and are now reaching the end. They’re entering the post-conclusion crash stage. You’re not alone, my friends.

I typed this one out after running out of space on my notebook’s page. It had to happen eventually. I’ll take it as a good problem to have, just like this post conclusion crash, because it means I did it.

The Next Unsteady Step

It comes as a surprise

When a project labored over for so long

Is finished

Complete

Done

Like the Abrupt Conclusion

To Stepping Off a Cliff

Is there a Next?

So Many Nexts.

But my mind is still reeling

From the journey that

Felt like a Fall

My spirit still flattened,

Pulling Free From

The Impact Crater.

The World is Still Spinning

And screaming

Behind my Head

For the Next Step

–Take It Already!

There’s No Time For Triumph.

The World Doesn’t Care

About Your Fatigue

Dismissive of Your Disorientation.

The Challenge Has Been

Issued

So I Issue Back One of My Own

And Take That Next

Unsteady Step

Remembering–and Grateful–

That I am Not Alone

Day 100: Snowball

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Didn’t post it yesterday but I did write it! Today’s poem will be published later.

I originally thought I might do something significant for the hundredth day of poetry, but then I realized, it’s just another day. A benchmark to be sure, but the journey of a creative is one that doesn’t end just because a milestone is reached or a single project finished. We keep on.

Yesterday I found myself grateful for the blessing of new opportunities, of regaining my momentum, and of having reached a major benchmark in another project. It got me thinking about how much effort it is to create something and how easy it is to destroy. It all boils down to keeping on and working within a system that is designed to challenge us and to be unfair. Life is a perpetual battle against entropy.

Snowball

Day 60: You Are Not Invisible

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Today marks another milestone. That’s two months down! Ten more to go.

It seems fitting to mark this occasion with a love poem dedicated to my better half and creative partner in crime, my bride. We men are not always the best communicators. Not to say that all men are terrible at it, only I’ve found that those of us in passionately loving relationships have a tendency to miss things. We fail to confer with our partners, or simply forget things they tell us in passing. And it’s not done out of any sort of misogynistic default or dismissal so much as simple distraction.

Love makes fools of us all, and I am no exception.

You Are Not Invisible

Day 56: Be Eternal

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Thinking again about the creative process again. I watched the Oscars last night and finally completed revising my manuscript today. I cannot stop thinking about the necessity of momentum with regards to creation.

Every single artist, performer, writer and so on is called on to create again and again. The truth is that completing your project does not mark the crossing of the finish line, only a finish line. It’s onward, full steam ahead, to the next project.

Be Eternal

Day 50: Unwell

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It had to happen eventually… the first missed post. Fortunately though, not a missed poem. Yesterday’s poem marks the 50th poem in this journey. Unfortunately, there’s a virus going around and guess who caught it? The poem was written during my break at work, but not uploaded because I ran out of time (my mind was moving super slow). I intended to post it when I got home but instead crashed. Hard. Guess what the subject of my work was?

Unwell