Notice I didn’t say ‘resolutions,’ mostly because that word always sounds to me like a promise never intended to be kept. I’m more likely to follow through with my goals–which are usually things I want for myself or things I think it would be beneficial for me to do.
I’m aware that this is a few days early, but I’m expecting my free time to become dramatically limited over the course of the next few days, and I really don’t want to be hastily scribbling this out on New Year’s Eve. That being said, here is a list of goals I’ve set for myself in 2013. (Note: some of them are more manageable than others. That’s all part of the fun!)
1. Find a big girl job.
It isn’t that I’m unemployed, or that I don’t have some form of income at this point, but I’d really like to find a full time job doing something I like to do. Be it a writing job or something I would enjoy that leaves me time to write, I’m not exactly picky. Benefits would be great, and so would enough money to live comfortably on. This is definitely a top of the list priority for this year.
2. Either find an agent for THE RECRUITED, begin another round of rewrites, or shelve it.
I think what it comes down to is that I need to decide what I’m going to do with this novel. Obviously, this decision doesn’t just fall to me, since there are still several industry professionals who have pieces or all of the manuscript. But if everyone says no–God, I hope not–then I need to figure out whether to make one more try, or turn to MSs that are newer and fresher and might get me that elusive ‘yes.’ We’ll see.
3. Finish the rewrite for FACING THE MUSIC.
Frankly, if I don’t accomplish this in a few more weeks, I’m going to be pretty pissed at myself. Really, only the beginning is giving me trouble–and I’m convinced that’s because I didn’t outline and I’ve written myself into a corner. One good brainstorming session should fix that corner, and after that I should be able to keep going. The farther I get into the story, the less I have a feeling I’m going to have to modify, but that initial impression may turn out to be incorrect. Either way, I expect to have this finished by the end of March.
4. Edit, edit, edit my former honors thesis.
This is going to involve getting it out to betas, and getting their feedback and instituting the necessary changes. I’m not sure whether to work on this, or FTM, or both at the same time. Since I have a tendency for overworking myself, I have a bad feeling it’s going to be both, no matter how much I try and tell myself that that’s a terrible idea. In all honesty though, I’d like to have this one query ready by the end of summer. We’ll see if that happens.
5. Read at least seventy books this year, and start a new ‘shelf’ on Goodreads to keep track of them all.
I’ve done a fair amount of reading this year, but I also feel like I completely fell down on the job. Partly because I was wrapping up college, and partly because I just haven’t made myself sit down and blow through most of the books I bring home the way I used to do. My goal this year is to hit–and hopefully bypass–70, and keep track of which ones they were so I don’t have to dig back through the archives to figure out what I finished and when. There’s also something else I have in mind with regards to reading, but I’m not going to share it just yet.
6. If at all possible, move out.
You guys can probably guess that whether this happens hinges on whether number one happens. Still, I’ve definitely got finding my own place and being able to afford it on the brain. I have no clue if it’s going to happen, but I’d really like it to.
What about you guys? What are your goals–big or little–for the New Year?
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