Resolutions and Revelations

The new year arrived with some of the nicest January weather I've ever seen, but it didn't seem to help with the doldrums of my deadlines and due dates. I didn't quite get done what I wanted to get done in 2011. The last two weeks of the year were spent finishing up two 20-page submissions for UBC, as well as a critique and a reading assignment. The best part about this is I have 40 pages of brand new material to work with and I read some fabulous books. The worst part is that I didn't get as much done as I needed to on my novel edits.The Creative Writing program at UBC continues to inspire me and teach me in ways I never expected. I've brought my writing to a new level - not just the quality of the final (ha, when is it ever final?) product, but also with the amount of writing I've been doing. I would like to say that I have it down to an art, but the truth is I just write all the time. All. The. Time.  So much so that my daughter has set up her dolls and Lego outside the computer room door so she can "just be close" to me while I work. My son, Tween that he is, he only misses me when he needs a guitarist (level:easy) for Rock Band or someone to help him with math.My courses are pushing me to refine my desires as well. I've begun to narrow down what I am good at writing and, maybe even more important, what I want to write. There's no resting on what I have done in the past. You move forward, always onward. I've tried different formats and points of view in my short fiction class, and my Young Adult class has inspired me to get going on a new novel. So yes, I now have two novels and a book of short fiction on the go, and all the while, I hear the siren call of non-fiction in the distance. I'm afraid to take a screenwriting or poetry course! What if I fall in love with those genres, too?The fact of the matter is, I want to do it all. And I can't. Even this morning, I was trying to hook my friend Gail into teaching another art/writing course together. She just shook her head. Neither of us has time.Teaching will become an even bigger part of my life in 2012. I teach Creative Writing every Monday afternoon to a group of very keen young women. I have some teen writing workshops lined up that I'm really excited about, and plan to do more. And I have my own class of ten-year-olds, two of whom ask me every day if my book is published and, "By the way, we have this book we wrote over Christmas. Maybe you could look at it and help us get it published?"Resolutions? To finish all three writing projects by June and hit the ground running on my non-fiction book. To be the best teacher I can be. And last but not least, to get out of this computer room and play some Lego. Or Green Day Rock Band.Revelations? I can't do it all. So I will go on, trying my best at everything I do: writing, teaching, parenting. Then I'll see what's left.