And then something exciting arrived in the post.

This sketch is exactly what's going on in my head at extra high volume. This is evidenced, of course, by the fact that I had to draw a picture in order to process it.

Writing milestones are funny things. On the one hand, I know intellectually that working hard and being determined will likely bring about certain specific results. Still, ripping open the envelope and seeing a Q4 royalty statement and a check is kind of magical in that holy shit I'm a real boy kind of way that all firsts seem to be for me.

I've set some really excellent, concrete goals for 2012. One month in, they still feel achievable without feeling so overwhelming that I want to quit. This is good. Getting a reminder of the payoff -- literal and emotional -- is incredibly timely, not least because I spent most of January working on a piece that refused to come together.

I'm not talking about ordinary refusal in which the work is hard. I'm talking about having six live drafts working concurrently and still no progress levels of refusal.

So, clever Real Writer that I am, I've put all six of those live drafts in a folder of their own, then moved that folder in my Compost Bin -- the folder that sits below my desktop Recycle Bin, where things that don't quite work get to wait until they're ready to -- so that I'm ready to switch gears tomorrow and get to work on something different.

Specifically, something I had to lay aside a couple of months ago, and that I'm still excited about in spite of the gap, and having no solid idea about tomorrow morning's point of entry with it.

(That probably means notecards. Good. I enjoy a nice notecard now and again.)

But yeah. OMG. OMG. YAY.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com