Goals for 2020

Hi All,

Well, it’s that time of year again, and while I’m typically not much of a resolution’s gal, as we are moving into a new decade, it does seem particularly appropriate to reflect and look forward. So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2020.

Have a book ready to pitch to agents

So, technically, this one is already done. I have a couple of books that are ready to pitch already if I just put in the time to make said pitches (for those foreign to the book publishing world, you pitch books to agents, who then pitch your books to publishers if you try to publish the traditional, non-indie route). But there’s actually a bit more to it than that. What I’m actually hoping to do is to have something that is not only ready to pitch, but is in a form that would be ready to send if said agents heard the pitches and wanted to read it.

My deadline for this is by the time I turn thirty, which for those keeping score, is more or less by the start of November this coming year, or, for those paying super close attention, about ten months from now.

While I seem to be doing well on this so far, with my current draft doing pretty well up until the part I’m struggling through now nearly half-way through the book, the third quarter or so of a book is also the hardest for me to write, so we’ll see.

Develop a plan for achieving goal one

This might seem a little obvious or at the very least necessary for goal one, but I think it’s important for me to set it apart because honestly, it’s a really key component that is difficult in a different way than just sitting down and putting in the work. Mainly because planning long term projects is difficult for me in general, and because it’s even worse when it’s for something that seems to have such an up and down flow of progress like writing does, where getting caught on a single plot snag could set me back by weeks if not months.

But, that’s also why step one of creating this plan is just de-mystifying the entire process. Because if I tell myself I could get set back by weeks over something small, if I tell myself that muse is a fickle creature who could up and fly away for months at a time, I’m more likely to make excuses for her to fly the coop, to say nothing of not just getting my butt in the chair and doing the work (re-developing healthy habits being an additional sub-goal of this process).

The main trick with this goal is that I’m not really sure how to go about it, both in making the plan itself or what the plan should look like. Because yes, I can set goals and deadlines for myself, but I’m not really sure what’s reasonable for those goals yet, or how long each will take.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Get back into dancing

As regular followers of this blog will know, I recently started doing Zumba, and I love it. I love the sheer joy of movement, I love how good it feels to exercise (especially right after class), I love how empowered and strong I feel while I do it, and I like the accountability that paying for a health program brings.

But it’s also not my favorite kind of dance, because in my dancing heart of hearts, I love ballroom.

Now, I’m not sure how I can get back into ballroom to the degree I would like, either financially or with my schedule, but it is something I hope to do eventually. I think even if I stick with Zumba for now to accomplish this goal, that will be an improvement (a more general fitness goal to be to sustain the weight loss I had last year and to continue improving my health), but the stretch goal would be and probably always will be ballroom.

Read more books

So, this one is another sort of weird one, because this year I actually read 40 books (by Goodreads standards, which is what I always use to measure since it’s easy to track ), but at the same time six of those were single issues of comics, and twenty-two of them were single volumes of manga, which I can typically read in about an hour.

And that’s certainly not to say that there’s anything wrong with any of those. Murder Falcon, which accounted for the comics, was a phenomenal short run comic with so much more heart, epicness, and feeling than one might imagine from the name (okay, maybe you’d pick up the epicness from the name), and Promised Neverland and The Girl from the Other Side, two of the manga/graphic novel series I binged on throughout the year are both extremely well written, thoughtful, gorgeous, and lean. The plotting in both is so tight and smooth, it’s a high standard for me to model my own writing on.

Except, I don’t write either comics (I wish) or manga. So while I love reading all kinds of things like that for fun, it’s not necessarily helpful to me as a writer to only be reading that. And, nothing against them, but since they are so short, it does feel a bit like I’m inflating my numbers sometimes.

So I guess the goal isn’t really to read more books from a count standpoint, so much as reading more that might better help me to grow more as an author or person than I might if I were strictly reading the things I primarily read now, e.g. in my genre, in a broader scope than I usually read, about writing or faith, non-fiction, etc.

---

So those are my main goals this year. What about you? What goals do you have heading into the next year/decade? How did you do on this year’s goals? Any advice or tips as I head into my 2020? Let me know in the comments below, and if you want more posts like this about my life, faith, writing, or recommendations (warning, nerdiness abounds), feel free to follow me here or on social media (currently on a break from those) using the links below or in the side bar. Thanks for reading and happy new year! I’ll see you in 2020!

A few of my favorite things

Hey all,

A list of recommendations. Things I’ve been listening to, doing, watching or eating lately, in no particular order.

1. Podcasts! Specifically Critical Hit and Tabletop Theatre, which are two podcasts that are essentially listening to people play role playing games, and Stuff You Should Know, which consists of the two hosts Josh and Clark talking about pretty much any subject. Please note that SYSK does cover topics not appropriate for kiddies and that Critical Hit and Tabletop Theatre (the latter especially, the former really not too bad) do not always have the cleanest language. The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf and the American Theatre Wing Downstage Center podcast are pretty great too, the former being a series of interviews with storytellers and the latter being a series of interviews with various theatre folk. All of them are available on iTunes.

2. New worship music. Particularly Jonathan David Helser & Melissa Helser (my favorite songs are “Abba”, “Earth Like Heaven” and “Redemption Rain”), Citizens (“Sins of My Youth” and “Oh God” are a couple favorites) and Shawn McDonald (“Rise”, “Gravity” and “The Space Between Us”). Gungor’s “I Am Mountain” is pretty amazing too. And yes, I know that some of these aren’t really new bands or songs, but they’re new to me, so that’s why they made the list.

3. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I went to see the midnight release of the second Hobbit movie with some friends for my best friend’s birthday. I didn’t have the highest of hopes for it but was pleasantly surprised, enough so in fact that I went and bought the first one shortly after. I led up to this Hobbit extravaganza by watching the whole extended LOTR series (though at the time, I hadn’t really been thinking about the Hobbit so much as had a strong craving for an inspirational epic) and of course loved it. I always feel inspired when I watch those movies, like I could do something bigger than I would think I could or could stand up under greater pressures than I’d think. I think this is in no small fashion proportional to how close to being Hobbit sized I am. Also, I just really like the world and characters. I’d be lying if I said the urge to re-read the books, from Hobbit to LOTR to Silmarillion, has not made itself known.

4. Geekcrafts.com. I pretty much want to make or own about 95% of the stuff on this site, and what’s amazing about it is just how much of it links to actual tutorials. I feel like a lot of the time I’ll see a sweet nerd craft and there’s no pattern for it. It makes me super sad pretty much every time. This site is pretty good about that.

5. Christmas music. Obviously the old classics, but some new finds this year, including a larger suite of Elvis Christmas music, some Pentatonix, and of course my new bestie, Johnny Cash, though to be fair I’m not super impressed with his Christmas stuff compared to his other work. Also, this gem, which has just enough punk in it for me to feel like a hard core teenage wannabe rock star and just enough lyrics about cream colored ponies to make me to adore the silliness of having that feeling while listening to this.

6. C.S. Lewis’ Sci-Fi Trilogy. So, I didn’t even know that this existed until about a year ago and I finally got around to starting it. I’ve finished Out of the Silent Planet and loved it and am starting in on Perelandra. I’m hoping to finish the trilogy before New Years, but we’ll just have to see how that goes. Anyway, I highly recommend them if you like sci-fi. I found three or four sections in Out of the Silent Planet particularly breath-taking, whether it was for the beauty of the world itself, the writing or the truth I found in both. All around good stuff. It definitely spoke to me.

7. This commercial.  As someone who has been taking dance lessons, I found this particularly hilarious. Something about it where he starts talking about spraying for dancers just gets me every time, in no small part compounded by the fact I’m pretty sure my instructor would find it super hilarious.

8. Crafting. I’ve been getting back to my knitting. I’ve made a few different Star Trek scarves available in my Etsy shop Fastest Fox and am working on some other gifts and such all of which are top secret and craft related (not all knitting projects though). I also had a chance to work on some of these crafts when I had the pleasure of attending a Morrison ladies’ craft day. I’m hoping it’ll be a Christmas tradition from here on out so we’ll see what happens next year.

9. The fact there is a video version of SnapChat. The fact that we live in a society where we text instead of talking on the phone because it’s too inconvenient and time consuming to call, but will go through the hassle of taking and sending each other videos of ourselves instead is oddly pleasing to me.We are contradictory if nothing else, haha.

10. Writing. I haven’t taken any large projects on for writing in a while because all of my ideas were kind of half-formed and weren’t really capturing my attention. Recently however, I have had a huge upsurge in creativity. I’ve been getting ideas for several things, thinking more and more of my characters and gelling some of those other ideas. I also had the very unique experience of getting latent inspiration from a painting I did quite some time ago. I made it probably about a year ago based on an image that popped into my head, and though I really liked it, I didn’t know who the character was meant to be or his story. I knew his name and had a very vague idea of another character or two, but nothing really came together until a week or two ago. I’m probably going to write a series of short stories with him in it, so my hope is to get cracking on that a bit more once I get a bit more free time.

11. Partying. It’s holiday time. Aka party time. From birthday parties to holiday parties to work parties, it seems like they keep cropping up. They’ve been pretty laid back (trying not to fall asleep through Hobbit, crafting with the fan, crafting at work, etc.) which has been just perfect for me. Also, my work is throwing me a going away party on my last day (Friday), so that’s super duper nice of them! Pretty excited for that!

12. Personal branding. As part of trying to job search and get myself out there more in the writing world, I’ve been playing with personal branding. Though it’s not the easiest thing to figure out, and I am not being as strict with myself as I’d like guidelines wise, I’d have to say it is a lot of fun. I’m rolling it out some with my Facebook page and Etsy store and will be meeting with a friend in early January to discuss some of the specifics since branding is kind of his thing. Fascinating to say the least!

Anyway, that’s what I’m up or in to (Oh, also Lays chocolate covered potato chips. Those definitely get a thumbs up from me, though we can’t find them at Target anymore, which is the only place they existed that we could find). If you have some favorite things you want to share with me, let me know in the comments!

If I don’t post til after the holidays, then Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Peace.

The culmination of a dream, followed by hysteria

I am probably one of the most easily delighted people I know. Or that my friends know. Or now, that you know. To take a page out of the Abby Handbook (a side project the first draft of which I recently completed) to further explain:

Positive Noises
a. Squeal: This noise is commonly associated with extreme influxes of joy. Should an Abby be pleasantly surprised, encounter one of her favorite things, or engage in a favorite activity or hobby, she may let out a delighted, fairly high pitched squeal. It is not as high as the pained or surprised stress noise, but is similar in length to the discontented stress noise. Though not all too common, it is generally described as adorable in nature and highly pleasant for all those in the vicinity. It is also commonly paired with clapping or covering of the face.
b. Excessive Laughter: This noise is hard to achieve but well worth it. It is often brought about by internal thoughts or insights and is not terribly easy to manipulate into being. Terrible puns, revelations of childhood illnesses, or internet memes can be used to goad your Abby into laughing excessively, but are not guaranteed causes. Laughter can come in various forms, including but not limited to snorts, giggles, and cascading laughter. Certain moods or excessive tiredness can also be used to your advantage when trying to produce bouts of laughter.
c. Hyperventilation: This noise is used when an Abby is extremely excited. This usually occurs immediately after a positive discovery or as a direct response to unexpected kindness or positive behaviors. While not uncommon on its own, this noise is often paired with delighted or impassioned speech patterns, laughter, or squeals.

First off, let me clarify that I don’t make fun of sick children, I just have a few inside jokes related to stories my friends told me about being sick when they were younger.

Secondly, with that being said, when my siblings and I decided to take a trip to London and Paris last summer, I knew I was in for a metaphorical barrel of squeals, excessive laughter, and hyperventilation. The trip was absolutely lovely (Camden Lock Market in London and Shakespeare and Company in Paris in particular) in of itself, but one specific experience was truly the icing on the cake. We went to a bookstore in London, the name of which I sadly can’t remember (September 2013 edit: I believe it was Waterstones?), and as we were browsing, I came across a paperback cover of Garth Nix‘s Lord Sunday. I’d just finished reading Superior Saturday not too long ago after waiting about a year and a half for its paperback release, and was anxiously awaiting the final book in the delightful Keys to the Kingdom series, once again in paperback to satisfy my need for continuity.

Anyway, when I saw the paperback copy, I froze in my tracks. Here, a good year at the earliest before I’d be able to get it, was the book I was most looking forward to reading. With Garth Nix as the long standing favorite of mine among authors, it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. Snatching the copy off the shelf I went off to find my sister. Though I can’t remember the specifics of how it went down, I can only assume–based on the fact my reaction would be exactly this if it happened again–that I found her and began immediately to bother her. I probably stood there shaking her arm or poking her saying her name while taking in great big gasping breaths and telling her repeatedly to “lookatthisbook!” She knows how big of a Garth Nix fan I am, so I’m sure she to some extent understood, but not to the level I did. I mean, nobody could understand that.

Except, I was torn.

After all, I was known for my need for consistency. I hated when cover styles changed on books half way through the series. I had been known to get into states of fury over it, and here I was, about to buy a book with a cover from another country? How could I? With six other beautiful books (not that this cover wasn’t awesome) sitting on my shelf at home, each well loved and read, how could I bring this one home? How could I face my bookshelf if this slap in the face to continuity was there? On the other hand, how could I wait another year? I had felt heartbroken and disappointed every time I went to the book store and Superior Saturday wasn’t there, how could I put myself through that again when the book was here, in paperback, right here in my hand?

I admit I spent way more time worrying about this than I should have. I probably bothered my sister and brother about it some more, taking on my stressed, whiny voice as I tried to figure out what to do, but eventually my desire to find out what happened to Arthur and his friends won out in the end. Using a newly invented loophole in my normal book-buying rules, I deemed it okay to buy the copy under the pretense of a souvenir. I purchased the book, started reading it before I got back to the states, and finished it shortly after. I was not disappointed with it by any means, as usual, and gave it its rightful place of honor on my shelf. I bought the US paperback version when it came out to calm the agitations of my need for order (and also for lending purposes as I wasn’t about to let this wonderful reminder of my vacation slip into someone else’s hands, no matter how much I trusted them), and came away with a great book, a loophole that can let me buy even more books, and a mildly interesting story about hysterics in a book store.

Special bonus? On finding the second volume of The Seventh Tower series in a book store while shopping with a friend after years of searching, I had much the same reaction. To my recollection, Garth Nix books have been the only ones to drive me (shamelessly) so insane.