What Will Be Your Focus for 2022?

Greetings and Happy New Year SCBWI people!

First let me thank Lee Wind for inviting me to be a guest blogger for January.

A little about me: I’m an award winning author, have been an SCBWI member for over 20 years and this past summer fulfilled my dream of presenting at the National Summer Conference. My pronouns are she/her, and I identify as disabled. I’m a full-on cat person, am obsessed with Hamilton, and feel certain that, in some alternate universe, I compete in American Ninja Warrior. 

Nice to meet you!

Now that the holidays are behind us, however atypical they may have been again this year, it seems like the perfect time to look at the year ahead. 

A lot of folks make New Year’s resolutions, but I prefer to think of a focus for my year instead. 

Resolutions can feel like to do lists, where success is measured by specific accomplishments or refraining from “bad behaviors.” Having a focus, on the other hand, is less defined. It allows for flexible interpretations and is more likely to lead to creative, emotional or even spiritual growth. 

As 2021 dawned, I decided on a focus of joyful abundance. 

Signing books at Children's Book World in W. Los Angeles.
Over 80 books were donated to the Cursed book drive.

That manifested in a number of ways, with professional highlights being attending the virtual ALA Conference where I officially accepted the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award for my YA novel, Cursed, (delayed due to COVID), an incredibly successful book drive to celebrate the paperback release of Cursed and the aforementioned Summer Conference appearance. In general, my year was full of varied and meaningful creative work, and my focus helped me not only to reach for joyful abundance but to recognize and appreciate it all around me.

So now, 2022 is upon us! 

I tend to be a pretty disciplined person in general. But in my writing life? Not so much. So I’ve decided on creative discipline for my 2022 focus.

I invite you to come up with a focus for 2022 that will help manifest something meaningful or transformative for you. 

There are no hard and fast rules around how to do this—in fact, there are no rules at all! If this exercise becomes stressful, that’s a clear indicator that it’s not a good fit for you. 

Best of luck—and have a great and focused year!

KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN (she/her/disabled) is a screenwriter and writer of various genres of children’s books.  Originally from Philadelphia, Karol now lives in West Hollywood with her incredibly fluffy cats, Ninja and Boo.

Follow her on Twitter @KRSilverstein, Instagram @KRSilverstin2019 and Facebook AuthorKarolRuthSilverstein.

For interviews, author videos, disability-related articles, upcoming events, etc. go to www.karolruthsilverstein.com