Agonies of a Young Author

Happy New Years everyone! Goodbye to 2008 and hello 2009!

What a year this is going to be! I can just fell the good karma rolling around. I can't wait to see what's in store! I have a great feeling for this year, with new adventures and excitement lurking around every corner. I also have many blessings to be thankful from in this past year. This New Year's really has much more meaning than its ever held before, and I'm really only barely comprehending that fact as I write. There's been many changes in my life in a very short period of time, and I feel this is my chance to embrace the change. For the better, of course.

So first great news of 2009! My lost baggage has FINALLY arrived, meaning that all my writing journals that I had given up for lost are now miraculously restored! I'm so happy- I was lost in indecision, hating that I was losing time on my projects, yet reluctant to replace the materials in case that the bag did finally someday show up. But no more! Now I can cheerfully return to all my mental putzing. (That's my family's word for wasting time on small, meaningless, and unproductive tasks.)

So my literary resolutions for the coming year:
1) Be more dedicated to the blog. Meaning planned topics, researched topics, and a better adherence to the whole "daily" part of the title.
2) Writing every day. Creative writing, not just here on the blog or in a journal, but 15 solid minutes of random story.
3) Expanding my reading horizons. I usually read in phases, where for two or three years the majority of what I read is mystery, or sci-fi, or "literary" or whatever, but I don't think it's good to be that focused on a genre. It limits my thinking, and that in turn limits my writing.
4) Subscribing to magazines. This means any kind, although especially literary publications. I think the constant turnover is a valuable mental stimulus, at least for writers. Becoming stagnant is a writers worst mistake, and one that I think might be most easily committed.
5) Reading short story collections. I usually hate these, but there is a value in learning both the form and discovering the authors. I really am prejudiced in what I tend to read. Sigh.
6) Sending out more options to be published. I actually just got my first direct rejection (instead of the vague, no response back kind of rejection) and it did hurt. I am just as guilty of arrogance as any, even if I did read all those books that guaranteed rejections in the double and triple digits. But I think I'm also guilty of not taking writing seriously. I resisted and resisted it for so long, that now I've made it into a hobby, and not a career. Which makes me sad. So now I'm resolving to do better, much better.

So crack open the champagne (well, only if you're 21. Sadly, I am not partaking for another year and 10 days- and oh yes, I'm counting) bring out the streamers, and jack up the volume! This party's just started and it's gonna be a hell of a time!

Right now:
What I'm listening to: The firecrackers, and the party next door, the drunken revelers outside...
What I want most: Water, actually. I'm really thirsty right now.