200.2

I wrote a somewhat more impassioned version of this challenge, which I stand by, but I do find myself skirting the prompt a little too often when writing entries. It's a habit I've been in since college when, for my thesis exhibition I entered a poem for my artist statement because I didn't want to write an artist statement, I wanted the pieces to do what they did to the viewer. I was rewarded for that, and I do love skirting the challenges when I don't like the prompt. This is not one of those times, it's asking me to be introspective and set goals about my time here, so if you would like to read the multi-layered other entry you can find it here.

And if you would like to read my poem that I used instead of an artist statement you can look here.

See I don't like setting goals, it's a whole thing, goals are demands, my brain does not like demands. However I've been more consistently creating with Vocal than I have in years. I lend that mostly to the very warm welcome I got when I shakily arrived, pretty bruised and broken, but ready to share what I had in the world. So I suppose some light look back and some tentative goal setting feels safer here than it even does to write it down in a journal. To say that the image I create here is as authentic as it is curated is probably the most accurate way to state it.

I will write more poetry and therefore read more poetry. I did not start reading my poems out loud until I started gaining confidence from posting on here. Now hundreds of people have watched my pieces, small numbers in the grand scheme but I'm proud. I've done it live. Which was electric. A room full of people to listen to and to listen. What a gift. There will be more of that in 2024.

I will keep using my voice to talk about justice, to call for action. I will continue to talk about the climate, and the state of the world. I will dip my toe in things that might anger people. I will not stop writing.

I will dive into my special interests a bit more, it's all fun and games with poetry and retail, but there are so many strange things I know. I think it would be wonderful to spend some time writing about that. It's okay if only one other person in the room finds it interesting. Maybe my passion for something will ignite someone else's.

I'm going to try to follow the prompt a little better with challenges. I think this year is the year of setting rules for myself writing wise. To really practice writing instead of writing when the urge hits me, because now it's a lot more often. I'm healing from burnout, so I should also be setting writing as a practice for myself.

See:not liking the history prompt and writing a poem from the perspective of an atom.

I don't know what that means for posting, but I do know that I need to start treating writing as a job. That's what I want it to be. Whether it's posting here or working on the multiple books that I've got up in the air. It's got to become a practice, I wrote 98 pieces last year I'd like to double it while working on my books. I have the privilege of time, I do not have the privilege of energy, or money, but I have time. So time it'll have to be.

I need to continue to invest some of that time into the community, people who have been so incredibly valuable to my journey as a writer. I will continue to fight for this community, for it to be a community. Even if, and I say this with all the love in my heart, sometimes y'all are exhausting. I wouldn't be writing if it weren't for the people who have held space for the little pieces of my heart I put on the page for you all.

I think, this year, I am invested in turning out quality work and reading quality work. It's going to be easier to do the latter around here, but I will keep puttering on. There are things I am too frightened to put the word goal on, because it seems like it makes that thing impossible. It's irrational, I know, but to work toward something and not name it is easier for my brain than to say "hey we're going to do that".

So here's to 2024, I started you out pretty much bedbound. It can only go up from here.