A WRITING GOAL FOR 2015

YES, it seems funny that I am planning on a writing goal for 2015, but the fact is that I am.

If you have been following some of my posts (as in the Pacific Indigenous Writers page), you would have noticed that my goal in 2014 is to write “one poem a week” – apart from other things I like to create/polish.

So far I have gone well in keeping up with my goal.

At times I work on two or three different ones in a week but only post that one that I completed.

The process and skills in penning those verses has carried into another area that I am interested in – writing songs.

I have completed two (that includes the lyrics as well as the music is done) and am experimenting with others.

(When the time is right I will share them with you.)

For a time I was trying to decide what to write in 2015 – a short story per week, or an essay per week.

I made up my mind last week to write a letter a day.

Instead of writing it to many different people, I will be writing to my father.

And the themes will be on what is on my mind – or what is happening in our country and the world.

I do not expect my father to reply to the letters (as my late mother did).

I will be using it as an avenue to write about issues, news, or anything that comes to mind – and hopefully it can teach others to think through issues as well as appreciate and learn the skills involved in that exercise.

NOTE: Many people think writing a letter is so trivial and everybody can do it. However, the fact is few people can write good letters.

And the skill in writing good letters is the same as most skills you want to learn – you learn by writing letters, and write a lot of those.

I have seen letters written by “professionals” and it is sad that many people go around in circles.

Good business letters are short and get straight to the point. I might offer tips on letter writing in the future.    

It is my opinion that if you can write a good letter, you can easily translate some of those skills to other areas where writing is needed – news writing, creative writing or even screen/script writing.