I don't make resolutions anymore. I suppose that years of failing to meet my goals left a bad taste in my mouth. There are only so many times that I can swear up and down that I'm going to lose 50 pounds before I get discouraged and throw in the towel. I think I've had that particular goal for the last 10 or 15 years... This year, I didn't make any resolutions. There were just too many different things going on, and we weren't entirely sure where we were going to be or what we were going to be doing.
All in all, this would have been a pretty good year for me to make a few resolutions.
Next month, we'll be moving back to Missoula. We've spent the last two years living with my parents. It's been wonderful being here, and I am going to miss them like crazy, but it's definitely time. The main reason we're moving is so that I can finish school. After last semester, I decided that UMUC wasn't really going to work out for me. I don't really care for the way they have their program set up, and I wanted something more than just an English degree. I did a bit of poking around for a place that had what I wanted, but nothing really jumped out at me.
I think I've finally decided, for absolute sure, that I'm double majoring in English Teaching and Creative Writing. The English Teaching program would leave me with about 2 years left of school. The Creative Writing would mean I'd need to tack on an extra year. At this point, I think I might as well go that extra year and get the extra degree because it's something that I really want to do. If everything goes the way I want it to go (but let's be honest--my life never does) then I'll graduate from UofM, find a teaching job for a few years, get into an amazing MFA program and eventually teach Creative Writing at the college level.
Now, if we're going off my fairy-tale world, I'll sell a bunch of novels and become filthy rich (hahahahaha!) and never have to work. And go to a lot of conventions. And be awesome.
My name isn't Stephen King, so I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. But writing is something I love and it's something I'm passionate about.
Back in February, I found a link to the Magic Spreadsheet. I'm pretty sure I've already talked about that, but it's a simple Google Doc Spreadsheet where people (hundreds, at this point) can keep track of their daily word count. The idea is that anyone can write at least 250 words a day, and then you can build up from there. You get points based on writing every day and so on and so forth. It's been awesome for keeping me accountable for my words, and I love seeing my name on the leader boards. I have a bit of a competitive streak, so getting big numbers makes me happy.
I started keeping track of words on the Magic Spreadsheet back in the middle of March. Since then, I've written 161,074 words for an average of 1377 per day. That's HUGE for me. I have written every single day for the past 117 days. I never miss a day. Some days, all I write is a blog post (I totally count these--they're still words) and other days I can't write more than 400 before I have to go to sleep. But I still sit down every day and I write something. Ass in chair and all that.
Since starting the Magic Spreadsheet, I've written a novel. Oh yeah, that's right, an entire novel. It's not any good yet, and I'm waiting for a bit before I start to rip it apart and try to make it less crap. But I still wrote a novel. I took a random idea that started out as, 'I wanna write about a self-rescuing Princess' and evolved into 50,000 words with real plot and story and characters. It took me about a month and a half.
It's a little thing. I know that millions of people have written novels. But it is such a massive thing for me, because it's the first time that I've done it. It's the first time that I've taken on a project like this and I've completed it. I created it and I'm not ashamed to say that I am damn proud of my accomplishment. Even if the story totally sucks, I did something that most people can't.
We made a trip up to MisCon this year. I wasn't sure we could make it, but I signed up for the Writer's Workshop anyway. I did it two years ago with a pretty crappy piece. It was not a pretty thing, but I learned from the experience. Since then, I've definitely improved in my writing. The Workshop this year left me with a very positive feeling. I got a lot of really good feedback, I got a lot of good advice from panels and such, and I left MisCon feeling pretty excited about my writing.
After I got home, I finished up the story I'd sent to MisCon and I started submitting it to Sci/Fi magazines. It was a pretty huge step for me, and I was a nervous wreck about the whole thing. The first two magazines were rejections, and I'm waiting now to hear back from the latest one. Being rejected actually wasn't that upsetting. I know that it's a good story, and I know someone will buy it...it's just a matter of finding the right place for it right now.
I don't make resolutions, but I am setting some goals for myself I just turned 30, so now is a good time to do that.
*By the end of this year, I'll finish writing the novel I'm currently working on. I will edit and rewrite both novels that I wrote this year.
*By the end of this year, I'll have published a short story, preferably for money. I won't get discouraged by the rejections, and I'll continue sending the stories out.
*By the time I'm 35, I'll have published a novel. It's ok if it isn't a Major Publishing House.
*Some day, I want to be a guest pro at MisCon.
I think they're definitely achievable goals. I don't really care if I never make a lot of money writing--that's not why I do it. I just love to create and share with the world.
So there we go. I'm making my Birthday Resolutions, instead of New Year's ones!
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