By the Chinese zodiac, we're now moving into the Year of the Fire Horse.
Fire Horse years are said to bring dramatic, intense, fast-paced upheavals. The last fire horse year was 1966--the year that marked the start of China’s Cultural Revolution and Singapore's first full year of Independence from British rule.
It was also the year of the University of Texas Tower shooting, America's first modern mass shooting.
I won't name the perpetrator who killed seventeen people and wounded at least thirty-one others, including his mother and wife who were stabbed in their respective homes before he went up to the tower. Ironically, some of the earliest shooting victims were thought to be anti-Vietnam war protestors and told to 'stop acting' by passers-by.
Hippies were in, so were mini skirts and Singapore's shortlived ban on 'long haired males'.
It was also the year of 'Batman' and 'Star Trek', the year the Beatles released 'Revolver' and John Lennon claimed they were 'more popular than Jesus'.
In short, it was a year charged full of crazy, chaotic fire horse energy. And now the fire horse is back.
I was born in the Year of the Ox and my 'ox' nature makes me inclined to keep my head down and wait out all the swirling fiery energies. But then I recently read about the Odyssey Plan--how visualising different possible futures can make us aware we have more options and decided to attempt a Fire Horse variation... Odyssey meets Fire Horse. What might my life be like if I choose to live this year as:
Fire Horse 1: A Safe, steady horse. Living as this horse I would continue working hard on the track I'm currently on, like a racehorse running round the track. Even if I 'win' a race I'll still be running in circles. But it's what I've trained myself to do and I know the track and how to run it.
If I live this year in safe horse mode, on a Tuesday in February 2027 I will have finished writing Bonsai Lives (working title), my attempt to step slightly sideways from my previous series. With luck I'll have got a contract for it or figured out how to self-publish it. I'll maintain my health and stamina by keeping to my yoga practice.
It would be a good place to end up in. But it looks kind of circular, not so different from where I am now.
Fire Horse 2: A paddock horse. I'm the same steady horse here, but in a different setting. Like the beloved horse a friend of mine recently sent to 'retirement' in a paddock in Australia. That's kind of me too--what if I continue working hard on my writing but look to figuring out and exploring the changes in the publishing and storytelling business? If I allow myself to play and try things out and not worry about getting published?
If I were to live this year in paddock horse style, next February I would have learned a lot more about self-publishing and may have published some stories set in the Singapore of Aunty Lee and the Tree Mysteries, but between the books. And I've been toying with the idea of creating a reading blog written “with” my dog, selecting mysteries featuring animals, preferably dogs (though we might occasionally allow a cat).
And yes, in this future Sophia is very very happy because less deadline stress means more time with her!
And then there's
Fire Horse 3: The Wild Horse:
Not all wild horses are truly wild, of course. I couldn't be truly wild (I'm Singaporean after all) like the Przewalski’s horses in Mongolia and the Kazazkhs. I see myself more as a feral horse, recently escaped from domesticity.
If I were to live as a wild horse I might not even create writing projects and set deadlines or source publishing possibilities. I might just read and listen and read and watch and read and daydream until I encounter the book or books that make me think, 'if only I'd written this, I could die happy in a year'.
But then instead of dying (I hope) I would try to figure out what in that book spoke to me so deep and loud and I would dissect it and myself to find the connection.
And if I don't manage to find even one such book then I'll attempt to write it myself--even if I can't sell it. Just for the satisfaction of having tried.
That would be my Wildly Flaming Fire Horse Year, running where I please without guarantees or contracts.
I don't know if I can do that though--I've already made some committments that I'll keep--but it's a nice dream.
Fire Horse years, historically, are charged with enormous energy. But energy doesn't necessarily mean chaos.
As a writer, as a person, which fire horse calls to you most?
The Safe Horse, steadily circling the track in good and improving form.
The Wandering Horse, exploring new (safe) paddocks.
Or the Wild Horse, adventuring into the wild unknown?
It's just for one year--choose to be a horse that scares you just a little!
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