A New Month

Do you live month to month, judging how well or how poorly your writing aspirations are going depending on how many acceptions or rejections you received that month? I do. I know this may not be the best method, especially because January started off not-so-great, but every time I face a new month, I also feel like I'm facing new possibilities.

It's June 1. You can either go into it with a positive attitude and expect good things, or you can face the day, and the month, with negativity. While I'm not so much a proponent of The Secret or anything like that, I do believe that maintaining a positive outlook is much better than constantly expecting the worst.

Have you made plans for the month? Are you outlining how many short stories you'd like to write or polish, chapter ideas for that novel that you still haven't finished, what major publications you're going to query? If not, today's an ideal day to do that. Since many of us will be off today, see if the weather is nice enough for you to sit outside with a pen and pad...okay, your laptop...and jot down what you'd like to accomplish this month. Then approach your tasks day-by-day instead of an entire month at a time. You might be surprised to find, at the end of June, what you've done. But you have to start. Today's a great day to do just that.