My New Year's Resolutions....

I love New Year's Resolutions. Not as promises or pacts, or anything at all I need to feel guilty about when I don't achieve them - because I rarely do. But sort of as touchstones about what I've learned over the last year and what I want to learn over the coming year. I feel like I'm taking a big breath, looking at the work laid out ahead of me and prioritizing.

That and I really love lists.

Anyway - once again, I swear this will be the year I figure out what to do with a comma. And a hyphen. I am sure my misuse of these tools has not only infuriated the grammar warriors, but made me look like an idiot more times than I would care to count. This is the year. Comma here I come.

My writing time has shrunk into a little tiny speck - two hours three times a week. So it's time to open up the those hours in the evening and it's time to claim some weekend time for writing too. I need to get greedy and far more disciplined. I hate House - but I watch it, because I'm on the couch not writing. That's gotta change.

In fact I would say time management in general is going to have to be dealt with in the New Year. I'm a stay at home mom, writing books, making dinner, trying to exercise and addicted to television - surely I can make that all work. Right?

I had a conversation with my editor a few days ago (I think I'm going to blog about it later) and I've been walking around hitting myself in the head saying "stupid writer. Such a stupid writer." Because I screwed something up that I thought I'd learned. I'm relearning a really difficult lesson about plot. And I thought I had that crap figured out. But, this year I'm going to forgive myself these lessons I have to keep learning. I'm embarrassed and I feel like a freshman - but I think that happens to the best of us. Because in this really flawed book - I nailed something else. I mean I really got it right, albeit to the detriment of everything else. So, you know...one out of like thirty things ain't bad.

I'm going to join Ninc and I'm going to get to more workshops and one conference a year. And at that conference I'm actually going to talk to people instead of sitting in my room writing. Because while Drunk Writer Talk nourishes me I think I need to get out of my vacuum. I watch Maureen come back from conference with a sparkle around her, because she's talked to people that surprised her or infuriated her or challenged her in some way. I need some of that sparkle. That electric charge that comes from rubbing up against other writers - we all do.

I like that list. I feel good about it. Warm and challanged, ready to put my head down and get to work. Which is what New Year's Resolutions are all about.