The world didn't end

That's a text I got from a friend of mine on December 22nd.

"The world didn't end. Now I have to do my Christmas Shopping. Crap."

Yeah, that happens. If you wait until something happens, or doesn't happen... sometimes you end up doing shopping at the very last minute, and panicking.

Even if, sometimes, you don't do what you meant to do. I set a bunch of very specific goals last year and accomplished almost none of them.

So, flexibility is good, too.

Now, admittedly, I have it pretty good. I don't have a public sector job. (I used to say "real job" but fuck you, being a mother, housekeeper, and writer is a real goddamn job and I bet I work harder than a lot of people out there who punch a clock....) While this has its drawbacks (no vacation, no sick days, no clear-set career goals, and strangely enough, sometimes not having a boss is a lack I keenly feel...) it also has its benefits. I won't say I have a ton of free time, because let's face it, I really don't. And I don't work a "shift" and then get to be off-shift. I am always on-call as mom. I am always on-call as housekeeper. And I'd have to be in a coma to stop worrying about stories and ideas.

But I can arrange my time as I see fit.

So my goals are slightly different this year. While I still have a ton of projects that I want to do, and stories that want to be told, I'm going to try something else.

I want to arrange my time a little better.

I'm not, perhaps at this time, ready to dedicate myself to being a full-time, 9-12 hours a day, writer. I'm not ready to say I will write 3,000 words a day. (I know people who do that and it always makes me feel a little bit like a slacker... ) What I am ready to do, however, is start treating my writing as a job.

I want my butt in the chair from 8am until 1pm. Daily.

I have several projects I want to work on, and I'm not going to get those done if I'm playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I'd like to be even more structured than that; I have an ultra-short story collection that we want to have done and ready to present to a publisher by end of Summer, so I'm going to set one day aside to work on those stories. (Here's where you, dear reader, come in... I'll need flash-fiction prompts to get me started. At any time, feel free to leave a five word prompt; at least one noun, one verb, one adjective, and 2 words of your choice. If I select your prompt, you WILL get credit in any finished product... )

I want to set one day aside to work on other short-story projects. I keep saying I should work on longer projects, and I will, but I also have a really hard time passing Submission Calls by. I love Submission calls. So, one day a week, I'll work on whatever Sub-Call I happen to find interesting.

Two days a week will be set aside for work on my longer novels and projects.

And one day will be set aside to edit my novel.

Also, I'd like to do more with my blog. I know I'm a sporatic blogger, I thought I'd try to get a little more active here... have some contests, some guest bloggers, and other things... we'll see. I can't promise the moon. And really, do you want to have to dust that thing if I gave it to you?

Anyway, much love, luck, and lust in 2013...