Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Image: http://www.crazythemes.com/

80 posts this year! And for only half a year. That's not too bad. A little over a hundred if I include the Bookaways blog, which hasn't been active lately because of my busyness. 

Like so many other bloggers, I'm taking the time off until January 1st. 2011. I have two kids to take care of and I'm going to use the spare time for revisions. 

My January 1st post will be special. I'll take an interview with Rachael Harrie, and we'll get a little more information on our little secret project, which will be revealed soon after. It's definitely something to stay tuned on.

So I say to you, my dear friends and fellow writers: Merry Christmas and may the year 2011 bring you agents and publishing contracts :D


Finally, Luna is hosting a contest where one can win one of her top ten choices of books from 2010. See more info here.

Image: http://santa-sa.net/ask_santa.php

Chapter 84.4: Resolutions and Revolutions

I like the beginning of the year. No, I don't have a hankering for snow and sleet and chill of night. Such inconveniences are fine in small amounts — when I'm inside and able to look out at them with little fear of having to subject myself to such evil elements.

But the new year brings with it the idea of a clean slate, a newness that bodes well for the future, even if past still serves as prologue for so much of life in general. For example, I'm hopeful that I'll finish the manuscript for my second novel this year. I have worked on it piecemeal since the end of November; I'd returned to it for National Novel Writing Month, which is November. That's more than I can say of what I did after November 2008 when I'd started writing it.

I have written more than 25,000 words, which isn't too shabby — nothing awe-inspiring either. It's progress, nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, I believe I can write another 65,000 to 75,000 during 2010. I have goals and the means to accomplish them. I also have lots of other responsibilities, which I also need to accomplish. Life, like politics, is often found in the choices we make about what we can accomplish and what needs more time.

The past five years or so, I've rediscovered an affinity in my life for the 18th century. I don't attend mock Revolutionary War battles or anything of that nature. But ever since I was a little kid, that era has resonated with me for some reason. I liked that a group of people stepped above their own personal needs to start a nation, ostensibly to benefit all of those who lived in what became the United States. I was enthralled by HBO's John Adams series. I've read a lot about John Paul Jones for a project that hasn't come to fruition. And a book that my great aunt gave me decades ago recently returned to me; it was about ordinary life during the time of the American Revolution. Some thirty years after the original gift — before I really had the capacity to understand much of its significance — I'm going to read it.

That's not a New Year's resolution. But rather, I'm resolving to have a little revolution in my life: to accomplish things for my family and for me that aren't necessarily easy but are easily necessary. I'm not quite sure how I'll do all that I need to do, but opportunities have a way of making themselves available to those who work hard to a goal.

So that basically is what I intend to do in 2010: To put a little revolution in my life for the betterment of my family.

How about you? What are your goals for 2010? Care to share?

Chapter 84.3: Junk Day

Just laid several old items at the curbside to be picked up for junk day. Already, a couple cars have slowed — one even stopped — to check whether my junk was their treasure. It seems, however, that there's not much of a market for ten-year-old Macs, fifteen-year-old televisions, or a ceiling lamp that looks like it belongs in a Korean deli.

I expect 2010 to be a year of garage sales. I hope we have one (I've been saying this for at least four years), but I'm sure there'll be lots more around the neighborhood. Sure, there's the economic reasons. I know I can always use a spare twenty or two to scare away the moths, especially these days when we count ourselves lucky to not spend $30 to fill a tank with gas.

But junk is a relative thing. I had gone into my basement intending to toss more stuff. But the CD player still works (I have a five-CD player these days), and there's a mixer that might still be useful for when I start playing the guitar and recording songs again. So they're still downstairs, and now that the other stuff is gone, these old items seem to have gained a little luster. They're less "old crap" and more "stuff from my past." There's a tinge of nostalgia to them rather than a layer of dust — well, there's that too, actually.

But I think more positively about the future now, if for no other reason than I'd love for 2009 to be over. It's been an exhausting year — even moreso for my wife.

So as another car moseys by the curbside, I wish you all good luck cleaning out your 2009 mind of the stuff that's accumulated, and preparing to start 2010 with a clean slate.

Chapter 81.7: Thanks, Happy New Year, and Good Luck!

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the recent results of my latest poll, which asked whether you had made a New Year's resolution. I got six responses in a week, which for this little blog is pretty much record-setting territory.

Not only that, but no one responded that setting resolutions is a waste of time. I used to think they were. I used to say "I resolved not to make any resolutions," but that joke got old. So did I, and I realized that setting resolutions is essentially goal setting, and I have many goals.

I won't go into all of them, but my goals for 2009 include getting a literary agent, finishing my second novel (a tough challenge, with newborns), and doing my diaper duty. (Pardon the play on words.)

Anyone else care to share their resolutions for 2009? You don't even have to be among those who responded to the poll.

Chapter 71.1: Easing Into 2008

Excuse me. I didn't mean to make all that noise as I sat down into a comfy chair to relax for four days. I'm sure I'll move again before the year is out, but I need these days off to regain some energy and the prospect of heading out for Amateur Night isn't making me all warm and fuzzy.

I have much to be happy about that I accomplished in 2007. I "refinished" my novel and I'll make some changes in early 2008 before actively pursuing representation. I also reached several other goals that I had set for myself. So, all in all, I feel pretty good about the passing year.

But 2008 will be mighty different, I believe. Politics will dominate every day discussions, as it did in 2006. The Iowa Caucus takes place in less than a week, for crying out loud. And given the dramatic, tragic assassination yesterday in Pakistan, I can't imagine that international politics -- and God forbid, terrorism -- will become another issue that becomes an increasingly common concern among thinking people.

Of course, there's only so much a person can worry about such things before becoming paralyzed by fear. So we deflect our concerns with meaningless things. Some choose popular culture, and while I'm not averse to a nice movie to divert my mind, I can't tolerate the current crop of morons who seem to captivate so many people. Instead, I'll enter 2008 the way I ended 2007: reading, writing, and solving puzzles.

I may blog again before the year is out, but if I my little thoughts don't cross your paths before the calendar page turns, may you all have a Happy New Year!

Chapter 71: Post-Christmas Wake-Up Call

I hope everyone out there who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful holiday. I know we sure did! I got a bit too comfortable sleeping past 6:15, so this morning was a little difficult. But it's back to the grind for the rest of the week.

The Christmas holiday weekend was quite busy, and I won't bore those five or six readers out there with the gory details. (If you want gory details, read the Charlie Parker books by John Connolly. I'm nearly finished with the first one, published in 1999, and I'm amazed at how well he structures the plot and develops the characters. He's fantastic!) But my legs and mind are tired, so I'll save my deeper thinking for this coming weekend, when my siblings and I will get a head start on a New Year's resolution to write together.

If you've happened upon this site or the Elephant's Bookshelf because you're a fellow writer, feel free to suggest ways to get a group of talented, imaginative people of different levels of writing experience to work together on exercises and develop as a writing group. I'd love to hear from you, because I'm new at the group thing. Writing's usually a pretty solitary task for me.

Chapter 54.1: Out With the Old

Coming into work this morning, I was surprised at how many Christmas trees I saw ditched onto the sidewalk already. Even more surprising, however, was how dry and decrepit many looked. They were almost denuded of needles. What do people use on their trees, agent orange?

Chapter 54.07: Resolve and Reserve

I'm one of those who makes resolutions -- or rather, I set goals. Sometimes I achieve them (for example, I intended to read at least two books a month on average, and I came close to doubling that goal), sometimes I fail (e.g., finishing the latest re-draft of my novel).

I have resolutions already -- which I don't need to go into here. But I think the resolution that makes the most sense is to be safe. This year has been pretty good for me -- busy but successful. But looking at these final days, I'm seeing ominous signs for the new year. This morning, I was on a first aid call for an attempted suicide. Not a pretty scene. Then I found out that a friend of mine lost her home yesterday in a fire. I don't know whether these will be blessings in the guise of grief, but I have a feeling that 2007 will be a year of tumultuous change. I pray it is a safe one for us all.

Chapter 53: Looking to 2007

Throughout the year, I've had many friends and acquaintances ask how I'm progressing on my novel. With few exceptions, the answer has been, "I've barely touched it lately." That remains true right now. I've had self-appointed deadlines that have passed by barely noticed. And the latest is fast approaching and will likely be met with similar results. Life has just gotten too darn busy.

Although there's no one with an ax over my neck to inspire me to get back to the book, I pledge to get what I hope will be my final pre-agenting draft complete before the end of March. I'll take a week off from work to get it into gear if I have to; it'll probably take that kind of decision.

And once that version is done and I start looking into getting an agent to sell my book, then I'll start on the next novel. Again, it'll be difficult to stay to my schedule, but I'd like to think that having a new project to work on will be the creative kick in the butt that I need. There's still a lot of research I need to do on that one to make sure some of the settings are believable, but I can start to write the character development, which is really the heart of any story. All in all, it should be a busy 2007, especially if I do what I am setting out to do.