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M.X. Reo Kelly
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M. X. Kelly

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RESOLVED! 2 for 1/2! Plus Upgrades

1/2/2017

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It feels good to be off to a great start writing in the new year. 

And so far, two of my resolutions are checked off.

First, I wanted to write more blog posts, and although I did not specify and make any certain plans known in my original resoultion post, secretly I made a challenge to myself to write (and publish) a piece for three consecutive days. Today's post is the third. 

I'm not sure I'll be able to continue writing daily posts once I start working both jobs again (and, Goddess help me, I'm considering trying to start freelancing in editing and proofreading as a third job). But the challenge I have set for myself is at least one per week. 

The other resolved resolution was writing more creative fiction and poetry. My grandmother always said that whatever you do on New Year's Day, you will do for the rest of the year. So I worked on and completed a poem from my Priority WIP poem list (more on that in another post). I also started, but didn't finish, a new poem and some future blog posts. 

Today, I will begin fulfilling another of my goals for the year. I will choose a book on writing and editng craft from the five I picked out from my collection of books on craft that I was either given or bought, but haven't yet read. Everyday, I plan to read a chapter or two from each of the five books. Today, I have chosen to read the first chapter of a book that has been on my shelf since shortly after I moved into my current apartment four years ago. Revision and Self-Editing is written by James Scott Bell and published by Writer's Digest Press. I think I got it for some ridiculously low price when I subscribed to Writer's Digest.

There are also some upgrades to my resolutions. I intend to seek out opportunities for beginning my editing and proofreading career. I hope to save enough money to be able to have my first paying issue of The Were-Travler (information, here). I am hoping to soon sign on to a monthly membership of the gym at the high-rise office building where my new office at the public media company will be located. I want to keep losing weight and feel better. I plan on a long long overdue visit at the dentist (as soon as I get some decent dental insurance) and do something about these awful broken and painful teeth of mine. 

That's it, folks. Just a few excited lines of success in the first week of the new year. I am hoping to receive some long awaited news about some poetry and fiction submissions made in the past. A nice acceptance email would be a great harbinger of 2017. I would blog about that, for sure. 

I hope your pursuits will all be successful as well. 

Peace--

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New Year's Ressies for 2017

12/31/2016

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Happy End of 2016! Sayonara, you crap excuse of a year!  Here’s my plan for the coming year:
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  1. I know I say this every damn year, but I really need to blog more. My last post was two months ago on October 3rd. That is unacceptable. I need to find things to say and freaking say them, on my web log. End of. This will be a priority. To blog weekly or every other week.
  2. Read more. I had a reading goal of 100 books on Goodreads in 2016 and I fell well short of that goal. I hang my head in sorrowful shame. There are a few books I am determined to read this coming year, books that will strengthen me as a writer/poet, editor, proofreader, and publisher. I want to read a chapter a day (or as much as I can daily) of each of the following books of the craft:
    1. The Editor’s Companion, by Steve Dunham
    2. The Subversive Copy Editor, by Carol Fisher Saller
    3. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, by Christopher Vogler
    4. Revision and Self-Editing, by James Scott Bell
    5. poemcrazy, by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
      1. I will only schedule 5 craft-help books to read from daily, leaving the weekend free to pursue writing and reading fiction. I have some fiction reading goals as well: 
      2. Finish:
        1. Archivist Wasp, by Nicole Kornher-Stace, and;
        2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
        3. Read the following fiction books:
          1. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
          2. Collected Stories, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
          3. Best American Fantasy, ed. by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer
          4. The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, ed. by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer
  3. Live more, laugh more, worry less. Times will be difficult. We have an infantile idiot in charge of our country. We can protest, but we can also find joy in our every day experiences.
  4. I’m going to pursue freelance work with a passion, while I continue to work both of my other jobs.
  5. I’m going to write, write, write. I need to get some more fiction accomplished, so that I have something good to send grad schools.  
  6. Study for the GRE, take it, and pass the damn thing.
  7. Keep on breathing. Keep on, keepin’ on. Very important, this one. Because when we stop, we die.

My wishes for you for 2017:
  • May you find joy when you look for it. And here’s a bit of interesting news, if you dig thinking about the Chinese zodiac as I do. The Year of the Fire Monkey (2016) was pretty shitty. The Year of the Fire Rooster (2017) may not be that much better. In 2018, though, we begin a new element cycle, with the year of the Earth Dog, so things could start turning around then. I hope. I don’t believe in these things, really, but I love thinking about them. It’s the creative Wood Snake in me. ;)

This is it, really. Going to continue to pursue better health, but not listing that as a goal because I’m doing it already and I’m going to continue.


Heiwa! Peace!
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The WIPs Will Get a Workout, so Cue that Loverboy Song!

1/7/2016

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You know the song.

If you don't, watch the video above. Or not. It's not a song I would recommend unless you like cheesy 80s ear-worms. It's there as a point of reference, to emphasize the following. 

Writers can totally dig that statement, working for the weekend. For a lot of us, this is the only time we can scrounge some word-slingin' time. Some of us emerge from bed early Saturday morning, haul our half-dead asses to the nearest caffeine procurement device. Once that is accomplished and wake -up mode has fully powered on, we sit in front of our computers for as long as we can and make word pudding on a blank screen. It's gloopy and messy as hell, like all first drafts, but getting it down is all that matters. The time for turning it into something tasty comes later.

I've got several stories of what I call the "backburner" variety in my Word files. I am going to make a habit of it to decide what I want to work on each weekend. I think this is a good way for me to get back into the habit of working on certain stories with an end-goal of finishing something to put in the editing folder or send to beta readers.

Currently, I have two stories I really want to get more editing done on as well as the slew of stories to continue writing.

The following are the stories I want to work on this weekend, and ONLY these stories:
  • For Editing:
    • An Irregular Meeting of the Cult of Conspiracy Theorists
    • The Imminent Fall of the Tumbler Stargate and Its Mother AI
  • For Working On:
    • Particle Girl Theory
    • Venusian Eggrolls Taste Like Despair
    • 14 Riffs on a 2-String Guitar
I would dearly love to finish one of those WIPs this weekend and chuck them in the folder for beta and editing.

Making task lists like this help me, whether it is getting through college or writing. What works for you?

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