New Year, New Goals

The New Year is upon us, and though I am not much into the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing, I do believe it is a good time to set new goals. It's just a natural starting place, and it is easy to remember. So, upon noticing that I have not put up a new post since October, I have set a goal for myself to have at least one new post every month. I know now that the world hungers for my unique perspective and worldview, and my pithy, intelligent delivery of ideas. Ha! Actually, I had someone mention to me that I had not posted on my blog recently, and that surprised me. "You read my blog?" I said. Yes. Someone is reading my blog! I have sitemeter tracking my visitors, so I can see that a few people have been visiting, but for some reason it still surprised me. So, with that audience in mind I will discipline myself and keep my blog up to date. Thanks to all of you, or should I say both of you :-) that are reading.

My next goal will be about my writing. I have expressed before my desire to become a published author, and I have been working toward that goal, but this year, I have decided to "turn pro" as Steven Pressfield puts it. If you are a struggling writer, artist, whatever, and you haven't read Pressfield's "The War of Art," you are doing yourself a disservice. This is a highly motivational and logical approach to navigating the road toward artistic accomplishment. One of the pieces of advice he gives in the book is that if you want to do whatever it is that you love for a living, then you have to approach it as a profession, not a hobby. If you want to be a writer, then you need to believe that you are a writer, and you need to approach your work like a professional. You have to commit to writing every day. You wouldn't miss a day of work unless you had to, so you shouldn't miss a day of writing either. You get the idea. And though I feel I have done well, I haven't done as well as I could or as I should, so this year, I will not make excuses and I will not be lazy. I will finish the drafts of my second novel and complete at least the first draft of my third. I'll let you know how I do.

Finally, I hope to help my good friend Patrick by contributing more to his wonderful website Querytracker.net. He has created an invaluable resource for authors like me who dream about being published one day, and though I was there when the idea came to us, Patrick has done all the work. I say this openly and publicly. This site is the product of his vision and his hard work, and I applaud him for that. I will try to find a way to become more involved in the future, though, because I believe in what he has done, and I believe that the site has great value to all aspiring authors. Thanks to all those who have supported us over the last year, and we hope you are enjoying Querytracker 2.0! Happy New Year, and thanks for reading!