Happy New Year!

Greetings! It's officially 2007 now and I have a whole lot on the plate this year. They say the first step toward making resolutions "real" is to write them down, plan them out and then just do them! Also, they (the ever wise "they", that is) say that you should advertise your intentions to everyone so as to more or less oblige you to completing what you set out to complete.

With all of this sage advice behind me, here are my 2007 resolutions (at least my writing ones):

1. Write 10 more short stores and submit each one for publication:

SS#3 by 1/31/07 (in progress as of 12/25/06)
SS#4 by 2/28/07
SS#5 by 3/31/07
SS#6 by 4/30/07
SS#7 by 5/31/07
SS#8 by 6/30/07
SS#9 by 7/31/07
SS#10 by 8/31/07
SS#11 by 9/30/07
SS#12 by 10/31/07

Each one submitted for publication within the month immediately after completion. Prepare to publish collection by 2/28/08.

2. Complete SP#2 - SP#5:

Spec SP #2 by 2/1/07
Spec SP #3 by 5/1/07
Spec SP #4 by 8/1/07
Spec SP #5 by 11/1/07

3. Complete Novel #1 (N#1) by 12/31/07

4. Read at least two books a month

One of the problems with writing all the time is I don't take time out for leisure reading. I do read a lot of non-fiction, particular books related to how to write better (or magazines for writers). These same helpful resources also say in order to write better fiction, you need to read a lot of it and from a lot of (good) writers.

Meanwhile, this week was busy.

I'm continuing to get positive feedback on my non-fiction article published in the industry trade magazine. A pleasant surprise is I'm hearing from former colleagues and employees who moved on to greener pastures. The challenge is to figure out how I'm going to best that effort in my next article!

I finished the second draft of SS#3 and I'm still waiting for feedback from my parents and Leia on SS#2. I've researched magazines for SP#1, but have yet to send it to any. See my resolutions for further plans.

I sent SP#1 to the US Copyright office to be registered. I also wrote several scenes for SP#2. On the latter, I'm pleased with the progress so far, though I need to spend more time on a daily basis putting down the words.

One of the writing articles I read (an interview with a known writer, actually) which averred one doesn't need all the sleep they get and could do fine with one less hour every day. Sure, try to convince me of that at 5:00 in the morning when I'm just hoping that that the 45 minutes I have left will turn into a couple more hours. Okay, we'll give it a try.

And so, I close this lovely New Year's Day - with the sounds of the Rose Parade emanating from the TV in the adjoining room - to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2007. May you get everything you ever wanted in life!

Michael