Hey Mon!
Remember that In Living Color skit “Hey Mon” (and the days before political correctness was a thing…)? Yeah, that’s been me with my 15 job! Okay, maybe not quite 15 jobs, but it feels darn close to it.
Still, I’ve managed to make some progress on my goals this year. Let’s recap!
1. Finish the two partial novels I have in progress
One novel sent to agent. The other, I discovered, needs a massive rewrite, including adding POV characters. Very much looking forward to the rewrite though. It’s one of those deals where the first draft is really just a vomitus mass of wacky ideas that need development. A lot of development. Fortunately, I’ve been working through Holly Lisle’s One-Pass Manuscript Revision, and have narrowed in on those pesky little things my draft was missing, like plot and character motivation. I’m spending the rest of this month doing a detailed outline, and then the next few months writing. I figure a detailed outline will help me stay on word count target, as I don’t have the time to twaddle when I finally do manage to find a spare moment to sit at the keyboard…15 jobs, and all that!
2. Write one short story per month
A little behind on this one, but hope to make it up with a special Space Squid series of somewhat fictional articles. The one story I did write this year was published in the Taking the Lane Bikes in Space edition though! I also made another Daily Science Fiction sale, a long story…less than 100 words short of being considered a novelette!
3. Eat a vegetable I have grown with my own hands
Check and double check! Had a squash, several baby carrots, a bunch of green beans. There’s a watermelon the size of a golf ball currently growing…looking forward to that one!
4. Learn to play a decent raga on my sitar
Still mastering “Mary had a little lamb,” I’m afraid. 🙁
5. Ride my bike 1000 miles (stationary bike counts)
Yeah, this probably needs to be revised down. A lot.
6. Learn to speak Japanese
Hmmm…not going so well. My free software isn’t as good as Rosetta Stone was, so it’s difficult for me to progress. I am learning to speed read though. That’ll be helpful in so many areas of my life!
7. Finish reading a novel (for fun)
Complete! Read Rendezvous with Rama, enjoyed it much, though the ending left me wanting more. Don’t have time for that!
8. Attend two Cons
Plan to attend World Con!
9. Try to grow my hair out
Hmmm…the fro is definitely growing, but getting a little unwieldy. I’ll give it to the end of the year, then a cut might be in order.
10. Strive to live a minimalist lifestyle
“Cleaned” a closet (got rid of a bunch of stuff, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at it. Need to ditch the boxes of old manuscripts that I’d been saving for future generations to revel in details of my creative process…yeah, probably not going to happen.) Currently in the process of paring down my wardrobe to 53 items including inner and outerwear. That’s a blog entry of its own.
So there you have it! The year is only half-way done. Still plenty of time!
Oh, my gawd! Don’t ditch the box of manuscripts.
Toss out the food first if something has to go, but don’t toss your early work. First, as you become publishable, it remains your proof and reminder that you have learned something, and have gotten better (which on bad day’s you’re not going to believe without proof.
Second, you will not believe the amazingly wonderful ideas you have in with all the inescapable crap in your early work—and you can salvage some of those bright, fresh early ideas later, minus, horrible beginnerisms, and build something wonderful with them.
{sigh} Add apostrophe at the end of paragraph two, inside period.
Remove redundant comma after “minus.”
With apologies for the typos.
Haha, okay, if Holly Lisle insists, then I must obey! I’m afraid to even look in those boxes. But I guess future me is likely to have robot minions to root through them for me anyway. Thanks for stopping by! Your writing blog has been a big help to me over the years!