Remember Me

I just watched Remember Me, the beautiful movie starring Robert Pattinson and Pierce Brosnan. There is a line in this movie, a quote from Ghandi, it says: "Whatever you do in this life will be insignificant, but it is important that you do it. For you leave fingerprints on the people you touch in your life." And I think this is very true of the characters in this movie. Especially Robert Pattinson's character, Tyler Hawkins, who teaches his father to show his feelings and do right by his family. He brings his family closer together. This is ironic seen as another character in his life tells him he is going nowhere, with no career prospects, nothing big going for him. His own father tells him he has nothing, he pedalled on a bicycle to his office. He owns nothing, and not making anything of himself. Tyler sums it up when he says he is "Undecided... about everything!" He doesn't know where he is going or what he is doing.

I'm sure all of us have felt lost like this at some point in our lives. Having watched this film it has reminded me of how all the people I have met at some point in my life have left an impression, or a fingerprint, on my life. Some people are in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. But they all leave an impression on your life, and manage to enrich it in some way, often teaching us lessons in the process. I used to think the only way to make a difference in the world, and to leave an impression, would be to leave behind art, writing, or even a movie, as those are the people who are recognised and remembered. But we also remember if someone has been especially kind to us, a smile, a pleasant comment, these things we remember. So perhaps if we are all a bit nicer to one another, passing on a pleasantry, then perhaps we can leave a pleasant impression, and be remembered in other people's memories.

2012 - Serious Writing Year

I have a New Year's Resolutions list a page and a half long, so many things I want to do this year. But most importantly, I want to take care of myself. Often when striving to achieve this or that, we neglect ourselves. I want to make sure I have some 'me time' - some time to myself, to relax, unwind, and follow my dreams. I have dabbled more with my fiction writing and art goals this last year, but never for very long. I want to become a serious fantasy & science fiction artist and writer.

The big thing I need to do this year? Practice my skills. To actually sit down to write and draw daily. The only way to actually improve my skills is to sit down and use them, often. I often get all excited when Nanowrimo comes up, and the same with scriptfrenzy. But if I don't actually get much writing done that month, and don't complete my novel or script by the end of the month, then I stop writing. Why? There is no rule that says you must only attempt to write a novel in November. The amazing thing Nanowrimo has taught me, is to actually sit down and write. I learn so much simply by doing that. Personally I struggle to reach my word count targets each and every day, but I do manage to hit half my word count targets each day quite successfully. So I should be able to write a 50,000 word novel quite easily in 2 months.

I want to spend this year honing my craft, writing scenes and practicing writing challenging scenes. Scenes with action in them, description, dialogue, drama, suspense, everything. I want to improve and write something I am really proud of. Only then can I reach the stage of writing something worthy of publication. And that is my ultimate aim. Probably next year, or the year after, depending on how I get on. I want to be able to call myself a writer at the end of this year, knowing that I have improved my skills and made progress. These are my main writing goals/tasks this year:

• Write daily, 15 minutes one day, 60 minutes the next.


• Write 100 word Drabble's (as part of the Writeaholic's Blog's weekly Drabble challenges).


• Write short scenes from movies and tv (practicing writing prose).


• Learn new vocabulary - a new word from the dictionary each week.


• Research Science and History, for use in novels and short stories (for Space Opera and Time Travel fiction).


• Plan a short story / Write a short story.


• Plan a novel / Write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel.


• Learn how to edit and rewrite a novel (and short story).


• Read 10 novels from start to finish this year.

Here's hoping for a productive and well written 2012!