A Wealth of New: 2012 Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I know yesterday was technically the first, and therefore, the day to post resolutions, but I was trapped in the car and had to wait. But trust me. I have resolutions. Good ones.





My lovely mother keeps cautioning me not to over-plan, not to get ahead of God, and I understand her concern—given the fact that I have an idea of what I want to do this spring, this summer, and all this fall into winter, well; it certainly looks like I’m overplanning. But most of this has to do with a semester-based schedule. So it’s true, I do have a good idea of what I’ll be doing. As for the actual breakdown of those events—it’s all open to possibility. I can tell you that I am terrifically excited. Here are some of the things I hope to work on.

MIRRORPASS

I’d planned to kick MIRRORPASS edits into high gear last fall, but after beta edits, I realized I needed definite goals. I got a Mead Composition book and wrote down everything—from scene edits, to line edits, to which drafts I would use to tackle what problems—that remained to be done.

So my first three resolutions look like this:

• Finish MIRRORPASS edits.


• Do prepwork (polishing, researching agents, writing the synopsis) for submissions.


• Put MIRRORPASS out on submission.

The deadline: March, 2012, exactly three years after I started. I already feel unprofessional for taking this long. I’d love to make three years my cutoff point.

Writing and Blogging

• Get back on my blogging schedule.
  
  Before finals hit, I was posting once or twice a week, but the real trick was writing everything ahead of time and pre-posting. It worked great. Now I just need to get back on board.
  


• Redesign the blog template. This correlates with some business goals I have, so I’ll talk about it more there.


• Begin and either complete, or nearly complete, one or more of the following novels:
  
  
  
  
  • The Eternity Shift – YA dystopian. Tuck Everlasting with an alternate ending.
  
  
  • Shutterbug Meets (Invisible) Girl – MG? YA? I’m not sure yet. Peter Pan meets Penelope with a dash of Cold Case. (Don’t laugh.)
  
  
  • Untitled time travel story – MG SF. When You Reach Me with the intensity of Back to the Future.
  
  
  
  I am more and more convinced that it’s time for me to start writing again. Not just editing, not just twiddling, but really sitting down and hashing out a whole novel. There’s a business side to writing that I’ve neglected. Which brings me to my next goal:
  


• Treat writing like a part-time job.
  
  I’ve had a hard time getting on a writing schedule. Thinking of it like a part-time job has helped me—it adds balance. Yes, writing is a job. No, it’s not my only job. It holds a certain amount of weight and can’t be allowed to cut into my personal time—but I can’t be a “bad employee” and skip work whenever I feel like it, either.

Business

• Set up a writer website.
  
  This is way overdue. I have a ton of ideas for the new site, but I’m a little intimidated by the work. I need to figure out hosting. Design the site. Redesign *Headdesk* to match. It’s a big project.


• Set up a portfolio and business website.
  
  I’m a freelance web designer/multimedia specialist. Did you know that? Yeah. Me neither. I thought I was just a college student. But when I started praying about work and provision in November, I got a surprising chorus of design job offers from a variety of sources. I can’t even begin to explain how much of a God-thing this was. It’s not just an answer to prayer, but a direction I feel Him leading me in. So. Wow. Okay. Business website it is, then.

Life Goals

• Get that gym membership. Lose weight.
  
  Years ago, I lost a ton of weight. But ever since then I’ve wanted to get rid of that last 25 pesky pounds and develop some muscle tone. I’ve always wanted a gym membership, and with all the work happenings, I hope it’s finally time to get one.


• Keep better rising and sleeping hours.
  
  I’m horrendous at this. My life works so much better when I’m up early, but I have trouble with the evenings, and it always throws me. Since I have early classes this semester I’m taking it as an opportunity to improve.

And finally, while my blog is meant to be about writing, and not my spiritual life, I do feel like my spiritual life effects other things enough that I need to add this final expectation of mine for 2012:

• God is taking me on an adventure. I want to jump into it with everything I’ve got.

How about you guys? Any resolutions or plans? If you blogged about this, feel free to post a linkback in the comments.


Truly and always,
-Creative A