THE 2020 PLAN:
- Eat more veggies. Literally, for my bodies sake, I have to commit to this. Veggies make my body run more smoothly and since I received a diagnosis of diverticulosis this year, it's very important to keep things regular.
- The Dreaded E-Word. Exercise. Our office building is now offering the fitness center free for use to all employees . I've filled out the forms and ready to get my butt back in there. I'm paying off my electric kit for my trike, but it's gotten a bit rusty from the rain so I will get it fixed and reconditioned, get the e-kit put on it, and start riding it around.
- FINISH MY F**KIN' NOVEL ALREADY. I need to wrap it up, sit on it for a few months, then perhaps spend NaNoWriMo 2020 on first edits.
- Start the process for creating an e-book collection of my stories. Was going to do this years ago but I lost the computer file of the story that was going to be the title story of the collection, a previously unpublished short piece called "Kill the Crow." I've been trying to recreate it. If I can't, I'll rename the collection based on my other black bird story that was published in our local writer's group anthology.
- Write More Blog Stuff. I say this every year and every year I fall flat. I did do a lot of private blogging on a site called Penzu. It was mostly just political rants though, stuff too long and too radical for Facebook (yes, I write stuff even more radical than my Facebook posts).
- Launch the new and improved The Were-Traveler. Even working full time now and editing as a second job (working on editing becoming a career in the future, but that is in my Five-and-Dime Plan) I still have the desire to publish and I hope I can make it work without getting unhealthy and burned out on it this time.
- Write Longer Short Stories. In 2019 I wrote one of the longest short stories I've written to date. It was almost 6000 words and it was for an anthology about demons. It was rejected but the editors had said they liked it, if only it had been a bit more polished. Granted, I also need to learn how to "edit" my longer stories and that can only happen with practice, which I will. I also plan on editing this story (hopefully with some help and advice from some writer friends) and resubmitting it in other markets this year.
- Write Some Poetry. I may take a break from Post-It-Note Poetry this year, in order to work on some editing projects and in planning my own writing stuff, and writing that stuff, but I definitely want to engage my inner poet this year. I did not write much poetry last year. Hope my poetic muse visits me a little bit more in 2020.
- READ. READ. READ. Fiction, non-fiction and everything in between. My girlfriend got me a brand new Kindle so I need to hit the e-Books.
This is a lot of resolution making here, I know, and I know that less is more, so I stuck with the writing, editing, and publishing aspects of my life. These are the areas I want to grow in and make the most accomplishments in, as well as my health.
I wish you all the best in the 2020 year. Go out and kick the world in the ass!