A lot can be done in a year. A year is over 520 000 minutes. A year is 365 sunsets, and just as many sunrises. A year is 6 novels, if you’re so inclined, or 3 drafts and few false starts. A year is one slow manuscript, dripping from your veins and bleeding you dry. A year might be eighteen queries and the promise of hope.

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A year could be books, read between heartbeats and steaming cups of tea. It could be 52 films, watched nervously when you really should be writing. Or over a billion blog posts, read accidentally when the words just won’t flow.  For me it might be over a thousand tweets. That’s something like 140 000 characters, 50 question marks, 390 commas and one obligatory interrobang.
A lot can happen in a year and maybe that’s why we set ourselves goals. A year is 365 birthdays after all, at least 8 official holidays, and the presence of change on the horizon. A year is at least one controversial change in the publishing industry that nobody knows what it means and oh godddd we’re all doomed. Except we’ll quickly realise we’re not because a year also represents something else.
A year is 365 chances to revise the plan. It’s 520 000 moments to change your mind and at least 8 official holidays to sit and evolve. It’s 52 weeks of chances for character development followed by some brilliant action scenes. Sometimes we forget to appreciate that priorities can change. Nobody enjoys a book where things go to plan, and that’s because life doesn’t go to plan. Nobody likes a character who can’t develop, and that’s because we are always developing.

The future sometimes scares me, I think it scares a lot of people, but I try hard not to plan with any real gusto because the future also excites me. There are so many things left to do, so many places I’ve yet to see, and so many best friends yet to meet. A year is, most importantly of all, an awfully big adventure and adventures are never what you expect. I like resolutions but I tend not to make them.  Maybe I’ll take up painting this year. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll read 300 books before November or maybe halfway through I’ll discover the inherent beauty in the little things and take 300 photos instead. Maybe I’ll get published but in the most unexpected circumstances imaginable. Maybe instead I’ll count snowflakes all year round. All I know is that I’ll try not to waste it, because there’s a lot to be done in a year.

What will you do with 2014? I don’t think I could read 300 separate books in a year without rereading some of them, I am a rereader. I confess!

0 Comments

  • Mia Hayson
    December 31, 2013

    I am also a rereader! I reread many books this year, and no doubt I will continue to reread books in 2014! also writing. I will be writing too.

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    December 31, 2013

    Lovely post! It really puts things in perspective! I think 2014 is going to be GREAT! Or at least, I hope it will. 🙂

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    December 31, 2013

    That was really beautiful! A year can be anything. I like that I don't have to decide what my year will be just because it's the 1st of 2014. I can change it at any time. 🙂 I hardly ever reread, because I love new things. But I wish I had more time! I'd love to revisit some of my favourite books.

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 2, 2014

    A year is 3 novels? Where'd you find that figure? Or did you come up with it on your own? I'm intrigued.

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 2, 2014

    Wohoo! Reading and writing are two of the best things. 🙂

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 2, 2014

    Thanks! I hope so too! I will spent approx 6 months writing 2013 as the date and then crossing it out though such is the way!

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 2, 2014

    New things are fabulous too! Discovering a new favourite book is one of the best feelings in the world. Sometimes I wish I could forget my favourite books so I could fall in love all over again!

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 2, 2014

    Oh, haha, I just meant, like, 6 novels a year is achievable at an average writing pace but most likely that will mean 3 drafts and a few manuscripts set aside (if you're a mean lean writing machine). You have to set aside a few because it's not that they're not worth writing but that you don't have the words right now to do them justice. You know? Like, good ideas come back to you when you're ready so sometimes you have to stop and tell yourself this one is still in the oven and isn't ready for paper or chapters or words. This one is still being created etc.

    Anyway. I am rambling. Main point here is I MADE THAT NUMBER UP. It might be 3 drafts. It might not. I think it really depends on the writer and what you define as a draft and what you call words etc. 🙂

    Reply
  • Mia Hayson
    January 4, 2014

    Yeah for new possibilities! Yeah for new things! I love this post 🙂

    Reply
  • New Year | Literary Jam & Toast
    January 1, 2016

    […] I posted this a while ago but I love to repeat it at new year: a year is 365 chances to change the plan, and 365 moments in which to discover yourself. […]

    Reply

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