Close to the Edge
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
A friend of mine once wrote in a note of condolence “P.S. We are all perilously close to the edge.” His point: life is fleeting, life is precious, life is always ending before we are ready. But these words are also words of possibility because time is limited and our time is unknown, so as Mary Oliver asks “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
As the New Year takes shape and the airways and digital universes are flooded with extreme resolutions, reasonable goals, and advice as how to keep both, my friend’s words ricochet about and through me. They seem to hold in their succinctness the sentiment expressed by Claire Morgan (played by Hilary Swank in the movie New Year’s Eve)
“because that's what New Year's all about , getting another chance, a chance to forgive. to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more, and to stop worrying about what if... and start embracing what will be.”
Achieving our goals is not always as easy as stating them. Life gets in the way. We intend to exercise, eat better, drink more water, get more sleep, be more kind... but then it becomes a struggle, and before we know it, our best intentions fall by the wayside. However as Deep Patel for Entrepenuer.com states in his article 8 Ways to Stay Accountable With Your Goals accountability helps us stay on track. Patel’s ways include: being reasonable about the goals, committing to a schedule, setting up micro-goals, getting a partner to help you, avoiding self-sabotage, know why you want to do this, celebrating each achievement no matter how small, and reviewing your progress.
The key is to find a way to be held accountable.
As a writer, each year, I intend to write more. I intend to submit more. But how do I hold myself accountable? Patel’s 8 ways are helpful but how to apply them to writing?
Enter Aimee Bender’s article on how to be more productive as a writer: Why the Best Way to Get Creative Is to Make Some Rules. Bender explains the situation she found herself in - she had crafted a little writing space, she had a plan to write more, but she was lacking accountability. One day while chatting with a fellow writer, who was also struggling to produce pieces, they realized the key to channeling their creativity, to write more, lay in the most binding of arrangements: a contract. They drafted a contract committing to writing two hours each day, five days a week. They added to the contract that by 5 o’clock each day they had to send each other an email that read “DONE”, the recipient would reply “CHECK”. As Bender relates at first it seemed strange as all new things do, but then the anticipation of being able to send an email with the “Done” became a tantalizing, powerful draw. Before she knew it, she was cranking out pieces of writing and the two hours she had contracted were no longer daunting.
As 2020 begins to unfold, craft a contract between yourself and a fellow writer, or with several writers. Give your creativity some rules and yourself some accountability and then the rest will fall into place. Because, remember, we are all perilously close to the edge. What are you waiting for? It’s a New Year.
