Monday, January 10, 2011

New Years; More Oil Dipping!

New Years, as always, was great. We did our traditional Fondue Party again, just eight of us, and it was a fun, low key, good time. Snookerdoodles was a lovely little hostess, and when we were eating, she just sat in her high chair, chattering away and flipping through a book. She really enjoys company.

Naturally, the conversation turned to New Years Resolutions. I hadn't put very much thought into it, since a) the Christmas season is really, really busy, and b) keeping up with Snookerdoodles is an all-consuming task. A labor of love, to be sure, but it's still a lot of work. Whenever we think we've got a handle on it, she develops a new skill. Lately, it's climbing. She is just pleased as punch with herself that she can now get on the couch, or the hallway bench that holds her winter clothes when she isn't wearing them. Her Gramma was watching her last week, and said, “I took the tray off of the high chair, and when I got back from the kitchen, she had climbed it and was standing in the seat!” Yeah, she'll so that. Honestly, it's a little frightening, but I figure that it's a necessary developmental thing, so I just stay close and wait to keep her from going tail-over-teakettle.

And that's quite enough of that tangent. When asked about the New Years Resolution, I was caught off-guard. “Uhh...to write more?”

Now, the problem with vague, wishy-washy goals is that they're vague and wishy-washy. (this is where I pause in the writing. All that comes to mind is those slogans on the bottom of inspirational posters of hand-gliders and majestic animals. “A goal is a dream with legs”, or “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Here's the thing though; I love them. As campy as they are, little word-formulas that light a fire under my ass are pretty cool. Except the cat on a rope: “Hang in there.” Way over-done.)

So my first thought is this: 3000 words a week. One of my favorite Bloggers, Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart, had a great post on this; having definite, clear-cut goals, but she set the bar at 5000 words a week. I suspect that she can type almost as fast as her computer can process the input. I set my goal a little lower, since I'm still a hunt-and-peck typist. I'm also thinking that I should finish the first drafts of my two WiP's. One by March, and the other by May. (Whee Whee Hoo. That's me, doing Lamaze breathing). I think I can, I think I can...

And how about Blogging, can I commit to two posts a week? Sure, but it's taken me about five days to do this post, but if I'm putting myself out there (like I did for NaNoWriMo), I'm more likely to do it. What are your writing goals?

5 comments:

  1. Hunt and peck typists unite!
    My goal is to revise and polish the sequel to my book (done writing - now it's all editing) and send it to my publisher this summer.

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  2. I think 3000 a week is a GREAT goal! You should only commit to what is reasonable--I don't have any full time child supervision anymore--mine just come check in and we call it good... They ask me to bring them stuff a lot, but know if I am at the computer or in the bath the answer is always "your legs are not broken". And finishing the 2 WiPs is excellent too. So well done!

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  3. Lol! Good comment Hart. Don't forget "your arms aren't broken." Or "That's why God gave you two arms in case one is broken." My writing goal? Since I'm not a serious writer and huge grammatical errorist (is that even a word?), my goal would be to write more quality posts. I always write mine on the fly and never rough draft.

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  4. If you don't have a definite goal, how will you know when you reach it?
    Writing goals - not so much right now, but I've other goals set. Maybe someday I will write again.

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  5. Hi Will .. two goals seems to me .. write well and keep snookerdoodles somewhere around! Enjoy both of them as the year develops .. lots of changes ahead .. happy happy days - Hilary

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