Yet another year is past, and here's some fresh new New Year's Day resolutions, or as I call 'em, goals.

There's a lot I want to accomplish in the 12 months to come. I'll try to focus on the writing-related goals, but there is always some overlap between aspects of my "real life" that sort of spill over into my writing life and have an affect on me. And I'm learning that I need to have stuff totally unrelated to writing so I'm not just a one-dimensional egghead/geek/bookworm.

So here they are, in order of importance, more or less:

1. Get in shape!
   A goal for the third year running, and I'm still no closer to accomplishing it. This year I need to be more vigilant -- for my physical and mental health, and emotional as well. And life is much nicer when I'm not lugging around an extra wagon wheel...
   
   
   
2. Write 250,000 words of fiction.
   This is a bit of an extreme goal, but I have a couple novels to write this year, and novels rack up the wordage faster than stories, and hell, I hit 150k last year. Gotta keep pushing myself. (200,000 to 250,000 words a year is the rate I want to maintain from now on.)
   
   
   
   
3. Revise my previously-written novels.
   Ahem, I mean, as soon as I finish the first drafts of The Wannoshay Cycle and Heart's Revenge. I want to hit this goal early in the year, so I'm all set up to...
   
   
   
   
4. Get an agent.
   Or a book deal, or both. I don't care about the order.
   
   
   
5. Draft the two sequels to my paranormal romance Hearts Revenge.
   I'm looking forward to these books, as they're roughly outlined now, and should just about write themselves, I hope. The romances are all part of my Master Plan, you know. And they're fun to write, with Elizabeth's help. Should have these done in February and March, I'm hoping.
   
   
   
   
6. Research and write The All-Nations Team
   I'm no further on this one than I was last year, and it may turn out that this idea is a story or novella instead of a novel. Stay tuned... I hope to start work on this around April, when baseball season opens.
   
   
   
7. Write 12 short stories.
   I have over a dozen stories started, but I'm sure I'll come up with more ideas, including some collaborations with some writing buddies that I'm looking forward to (hi Tim, Samantha, and Derek!). A story a month is the goal. Piece o' cake!
   
   
   
8. Read the top SF/F/H magazines religiously.
   This group of magazines includes Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Sci Fiction, F&SF, and Cemetery Dance and even Gothic.Net, (now that I've forgiven them for making me wait six months to get paid for my story published there). This one's an ongoing goal, with weekly stories to keep up with online, and monthly subscriptions to read in print. Not only will I get to read the best genre short fiction out there, I also plan on seeing my own stories in these excellent publications (right now I'm at 2 outta 6).
   
   
   
9. Work more on the house and yard.
   Also part of the Master Plan to improve my sorely-lacking handy-man skills and learn more about house repairing and yard...stuff. And to make our yard look less like the Worst Yard of the 'Hood. Another ongoing goal.
   
   
   
10. Learn to play the guitar.
    I don't need to be able to do much more than pick out "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" here, but I'd like to learn something more than what I know now about the guitar (which is about zilch).
    
    And hey, if I have time, I'd love to learn Spanish and do more yoga and do volunteer work with the local literacy council. And of course, I ALWAYS need to work on being less grumpy, especially with Elizabeth, who takes my writerly moods in stride, for the most part, unless I need a swift kick in the arse... :)
    
    You know, I really need to teach myself not to need sleep; then it'd be a snap getting all these goals accomplished. Later!