We Apologize for the Delay
December and January have been unfortunately busy months. My previous attempts at frequent blogging apparently went well until November, and then began faltering all over the place. My novel is unfinished, I have been unfaithful to the spirit of this site, and I’ve been completely absent on ZSN. This is clearly a problem. It’s a problem I plan to rectify.
One of the things I’ve never liked about the new year is the way people go on and on about resolutions. Why choose the first of the year? There are obvious reasons, yes, but it’s all ceremonial. Let’s face it, a promise you make yourself on January 1 never carries the weight that a promise you make yourself a different time of the year carries. Unless you’re someone like Belynda, and remain absolutely dedicated to your cause, you will fail in it. This is not pessimism – I definitely prefer my glasses half-full – but it is the way of things. The promises I’ve made to myself that I’ve been most faithful in keeping are ones that I make mid-December, or at the beginning of November. They’re promises that appear on my lips in May or July. I make a promise to myself when I need to, and I follow through out of necessity. Need begets gravity.
In any case, I will not sit here and make resolutions about writing more, or taking more photos (which I need to do, especially since I have a new camera to do that with), or claim things about going to gyms or anything. I am simply just going to write more, and take pictures more. I plan on starting some new habits that could get me going in that direction, and so it’s going to boil down to staying on myself about them. Of course, I need to be creative. It’s an outlet for me, and a way to embrace life. There are a lot of hard things, a lot of stupid things, a lot of angry or mean people. But there are the good things like laughter over a beer, or sharing an umbrella with a friend. There could be new jobs, hopefully there are new friends. But I’m not going to stress myself out about it.
I guess what it all really comes down to is picturing oneself a year in the future. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? I’m not quite sure who I want to be in a year, but I have some good ideas on how to get there.
In the meantime, enjoy a few shots from a new photo set I’ve begun on Flickr that I call “Illumination.” I’ve always loved light – from the sun to street lamps to campfires – and I’m just now starting to collect images of light sources. Lamps and lights are simple tools for most people – things to push away the dark at the flip of a switch. But any writer can tell you there’s something much deeper going on with lights. Not just in the physical – there’s something psychologically important about having a way to push back the shadows. But I digress. Despite my ongoing (and growing) fascination, a true purveyor of craft knows that the craft will speak for itself. I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but I’m working on it.
So without further adieu, scenes from Illumination (the full set – which is expanding – can be seen on my Flickr):
Tom