Goals and such

The longest day known to Man! That was yesterday. Wasn’t it? The freaking LONGEST day of the year. Gosh, it seemed that way.

Work was just work. Nothing unusual to report at this time.

I came home to a very large box on my front porch. I had ordered a force action lightsaber on FRIDAY from Target.Com and – TADA – it arrived today. Man. That’s some super fast shipping! I couldn’t believe it already showed up. Especially since it wasn’t due to arrive until 12/24.

Thankfully, the Sweetie Boy wasn’t the least bit interested in the box. He was too busy making up goofy songs to notice.

He had me cracking up in the car on the way home. He made up this silly song about Batman in the hall and Robin in the kitchen, and all the bad guys in the bathroom. I was laughing at him. He got to giggling too and we were both cracking up by the time we hit the house.

My child has a sense of humor that astounds me sometimes. I had dragged him out to run some errands on Sunday. As we were leaving Office Depot, he was walking next to me holding my hand. Except he wasn’t really walking. More like hoping, skipping and jumping and just acting silly. I said, “Can you walk normal, please?” And so you know what he did? He walked sideways and looked up at me with the biggest grin ever. He knew he was being funny.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

On the writing front, I’ve been thinking about the MAGIC book a lot. I agree 100 percent, Devon. It’s an exploding market. It makes me scratch my head a little at the response. But tis okay. I have other plans for the book. I’m going to make some changes to it and then try again. I’m not giving up yet!

My goal for 2008 is to complete five – YES, you read that right FIVE – manuscripts. Now, let’s see if I can acomplish that.

Here’s the list:

• Coffee Tea or Me – comtemporary
• The Magic Within – fantasy
• Dragon Fyre – fantasy
• The Magic Untouched – fantasy (sequel to first MAGIC book)
• the as-yet unnamed Roman book

Whew. That’s a lot. I may not make the goal, but I’m sure as heck going to try. Some of the above named are already works in progress that need to be finished and submitted. The others are completely new material from scratch.

Over this last year, I’ve learned what really works for me and what doesn’t as far as writing goes. I am not a plotter. No matter how much I try, I’m just not. I can go by a very rough synopsis. But I just can’t do detailed plotting. And I certainly can’t write to a detailed plot, even if I make it up. I know I know. It’s supposed to help and make you write faster. But for me, it makes me feel boxed in and it’s like there’s no mystery and I can’t write the story that way. I need for the characters to reveal to me their story as I write it. Weird, I guess. But that’s definitely what works for me.

Another thing I want to do in 2008 is set those deadlines and stick to them. I really want to make myself finish these projects this next year. Working under deadline pressure works for me, too. I work better under stress. I know, another weird thing. But it works for me. It forces me to do what I have to do and I don’t think about it. I just do it. Kind of like Nike. Just do it!

So. For me the mantra of 2008 is that – Just Do It!

And it’s your job out there to kick my ass when I’m not doing it. 😉