Resolutions and Revolutions

Normally people do this before New Years, but I'm not what one would call "normal".  So here goes.  A look back and a look forward.  Out with the old and in with the new.  Add a few more cliches and you have yourself a cliche buffet.

A Look Back
A lot happened last year.  One year ago, I started seriously writing.  Not just writing for the sake of it, but writing for a purpose.  In this case, to get a story published.  To say, "I did it".  To that end, I wrote two children's stories and submitted them.  So far, nothing.  I have revised them and will be submitting them to different publishers soon.

Six months ago, I started blogging.  The purpose? To write.  To get ideas out of my head so that I could focus on writing stories.  It's worked so far.  I've been able to focus a little more when I get the clutter out.  An end result was that I was able to submit a short story, The Forgotten Arch, to Lulu.com's short story competition as part of NaNoWriMo.  Although, I didn't make it into the top 3, I did learn a lot about self-publishing and it was a great experience.  I also ended up with a great start to a larger story.  I've been fiddling around with it in my head (nothing on paper yet) and need to stop wasting time and just write it (self-sabotaging is a problem sometimes!).

A Look Forward
The future is always in flux, but I will make some resolutions.  It will be interesting to look back at the end of the year and see if any of them come to pass.

1. I am taking a class in a couple weeks on creative writing.  I thoroughly expect to enjoy it as well be challenged by it.  It will last the entire Spring semester and I expect to have several posts on topics related to the class.  I've read most of the textbook and you'll see mention of it in earlier posts.
2. Write more.  Blog more.  I have a lot of ideas swimming around in my head and I need to stop playing around and get them out.  I really slacked off in December and I paid the price for it mentally.  I plan on getting a journal to help writing bits and pieces as they come to me.  I thought just using a computer would be enough, but I've found that I don't always want to sit down and type.  So, pen and paper will be another outlet.
3. Submit poetry/prose to more competitions.  There are a couple local competitions coming up that I am wanting to submit work to.  Both of them involve publication in a literary journal.  Even if I don't get anything published, I know it will be a positive experience.
4. Submit "Sir Grumpsalot" and "Bobby and the Big Split" (both kids stories) to new publishers.  I've revised them, I just need to submit them
5. Participate in NaNoWriMo (held in November).  This is a big one and will require a serious time commitment on my part.  However, I think it will be really awesome.  In order to participate, I will need to get in the habit of writing regularly.  The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  That translates into over 1600 words a day.  Definitely need to limber up for that.

Thanks for reading my various postings in 2011.  I hope to see you all continue reading and following my journey.

Till next time

-Andrew