June 11, 2012

Resolutions, Revisited: The Halfway Mark


So it's June. How did that happen?

I've been thinking about goals today, trying to figure out how much I can squeeze into the few months I have off before I dive into teaching. Let's see how I've done so far with this year's resolutions:

1. Finish Novel #2 and start shopping for agents. I finished edits on TORN in February (sweet triumph!) and started shopping in March. This was something that involved an insane amount of research and meticulous dedication, more so even than I expected. Thanks to that wonderful thing called the Internet I've learned a massive amount and connected with some interesting people. I've entered a few contests and gotten MUCH more comfortable with having people read my work and also with hearing 'no thanks'. I just have to keep this ball rolling through the rest of the year.

2. Write Novel #3. I wrote 12,000 words of novel #3. And then started writing an entirely different Novel #3, one that wouldn't leave me alone. I'm now about 55,000 words into what I'm calling my UndergroundNovel, and I'm loving it. So that's...[computing]...almost 70,000 words in four months? Yowza. That's fast for me. If I keep going at this rate, I'll be done with this draft by mid-July.

3. Make photography a bigger part of my life. I was better about this in the first three months of the year, but I'm coming back around to it. The summer's adventures should yield some interesting new places to point my camera at.


4. Take myself on a writing retreat. I'm going up to a beautiful farm in NY State in a few weeks to finish Novel #3 (and also to paint my aunt's farmhouse living room. And also to eat copious amounts of her cake.) Here's to family-sponsored writing ventures!


5. Learn to play the violin. You know what I don't own? A violin. But I DO own a guitar, one I never play anymore. I think I'm going to try and get better at that so I can serenade my new roommates.

6. Run for a cause. I just ran a half marathon. I did not, sadly, run for a cause. I was afraid that I'd fall on my face halfway through, disappointing my sponsors and feeling silly. Now that I know I can actually run 13.1 miles, I'm on top of this. Are big races only a summer thing, or do they have them in the fall?

7. Get back in touch with Shakespeare. I actually forgot about this one...that's what I get for not hanging them up somewhere visible. I'm off to read me some Macbeth.


My Current Writing Soundtrack: "The Lighthouse Song" by Josh Pyke








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