Number Fifty-Two

On January 2nd, 2011, I was trying to come up with an idea for a New Year’s Resolution that would get me writing on a regular basis. I was discussing the idea with my family as we finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes. My brother suggested that I try going online and joining a writing forum. Further discussion lead to the idea of writing one short story, at least a page long, each week and then posting them on this forum.

Today is the last day of the year 2011 and this is the final post, number fifty-two of this year. I have written stories that were sad, funny or thoughtful (or attempted to at least), as well as character descriptions, dialogue-only tales and some stories that had no dialogue whatsoever. I even tried my hand at a serial story that was written in ten separate parts.

Sometimes I missed my Saturday night deadline and certain stories are definitely not as well thought-out or written as others. Some I really liked and received no comments on. Others I thought were pretty awful only to receive praise for. Certain entries were read literally hundreds of times and some were read probably only by a few diehard relatives desperately trying to make me feel better.

I have learned a lot over the course of this year and many things have changed in my life, either for better or worse. Overall 2011 was much better than 2010 and I am hoping that that trend will continue into 2012.

It has only been the last two years that I have had resolutions and I stuck to both of them for the entire year. For 2012, I have made three resolutions for myself: 1) I want to start reading all of the books whose titles I have written down on little scraps of paper here and there and that I still have yet to get to, 2) I will write five pages EVERY WEEK for my book that I have been “working on” for the past nine years, 3) I want to edit and in some cases rewrite, all of my 2011 short stories and then pay to have them printed and bound into a book that will be the first ever to bear the name K. M. Lynch.

These goals may not sound like very much, but for me they will take effort to fulfill them. I also hope to somehow manage to have a life at the same time…

I have wanted to be a writer or more specifically an author of fiction novels, for more than a decade now. I have been told repeatedly that this will not be an easy road to take, but to me it is the only option I could ever imagine for my future.

An author is someone who has managed to convince others that their writing is worth reading. A writer is someone who desperately struggles to communicate their dreams to others in written form. I want to become an author, but I already am a writer.

I will not be posting many new stories in 2012 and although I may take the time to read entries from other members of this forum, I won’t be around as often as I have been this past year. I want to thank everyone who has taken a moment to read my writings and especially those who commented on my work.

Above all I would really like to thank my family and friends who have supported me throughout this resolution and who continue to encourage me to keep writing.

Happy New Year to everyone and all the best in 2012!