Resolutions

After the typical New Year's-depression, whereas I think more about what I didn't accomplish than what I did, I'm starting to feel more and more excited about this new year. 2006 sounds like it's going to one helluva ride. First of all, there's a cosmic alignment coming up that seems to spell all kinds of interesting things. Consider: I'll be turning 26 on 2/26/2006. I'm no numerologist, but there's something.. unique, about that. The only downside is I have an event on that day (a Sunday) and I have to work all day. Second, after a year of working, I'll be getting my first tax refund (won't be much) but that plus money I've earned and will earn will all lead to (hopefully) a nice trip sometime during the year.

But mostly I want this year to bring me back to focus on my writing career. And, borrowing from Dave's idea, I'm going to put my resolutions/goals up here and hope the public-ness of it inspires me to actually do it and accomplish it.

Goal/Resolution #1: Finish ten stories. (This sounds hard, considering I finished only one story in all of 2005, but I've got three or four stories that I like that are missing endings, and a bunch of other ideas for short, quick, stories, so this lofty goal seems like it might just be possible.)

Goal/Resolution #2: Sell/publish five stories. (That would be more stories published than I've done so far in the past two years, 4, but I still think it's possible. I need to get stories out as much as possible to lots of magazines and keep them constantly in editor’s hands and not my own. I always submit stories, whether they get picked up or not is up to the editors. So everyone cross your fingers for me.)

Goal/Resolution #3: Read more. Ever since I stopped smoking, I haven't been reading as much. It used to be a casual, ever-present, part of my daily routine. Nowadays I feel like I need to set aside time for reading and that’s increasingly hard what with being a popular guy and all, but I'd like to get back to my book-a-week schedule.

Goal/Resolution #4: Start a novel. This has been coming for awhile. I feel like I haven't been able to achieve as much success with short stories as I'd like to. I know I'm young and I know I have time to achieve that success, but I've got a novel idea that I've been slowly developing for the last five or six months and an itch to write a real, strong, powerful novel since I was teenager. It’s about time I started.