A Hopeful Beginning

Here we are in a new year. I always love it when a new year starts. I don't know how to describe how I feel exactly. It's sort of like everything is suddenly fresh, like everything has been wiped clean and I can just start over. It also sort of feels like a jumping off point. It seems a good time to start working toward your goals as well as setting them. This New Year's I actually have some goals I want to set. Normally, I like the feeling of New Year's but I don't have any resolutions. Since I do have some this year, and since some of them pertain to writing, I thought I would share them with you.

First though, I have to tell you all that I already completed one of my New Year's resolutions. (I'm fast, huh?) I have known for months that I would have to quit Neopets. It's distracting and time-consuming. It takes away from my friends, my family, reading, my writing, and for what? Sure, I made some amazing friends (love you, guys) but there are other ways to talk to them that aren't surrounded by childish games and distractions. Email, for instance, or this blog, or even YouTube. I can speak freely in these areas, unlike Neopets. Today, I deleted my last account, and I'm really rather proud of myself. It doesn't feel as different as I thought it would but it's still a great achievement, for me. I have beat my addiction! Now, on to other things, like the resolutions I have yet to complete.

1. I will write everyday, whether it be a poem, a paragraph, a short story, a chapter. I need to get more serious about my writing. It's a very important part of my life and I need to give it more attention. Also, practice makes perfect.
2. This one kind of goes with my first resolution but, I will write a blog post or in my journal everyday. I know this sounds like the same thing but it isn't. Most of my writing is fictional, my journal/blog is not. It's an account of my life which I want to have. I'm good about posting but I can go a month, or two, without writing in my journal. I like reading through it though, even if some of my phrases are kind of clique. XD
3. I will learn to vlog, not blog, vlog. I already have a channel set up on YouTube. There aren't any videos but I hope to change that soon, as well as spiff up that page. I like the colors I picked though I think I still need to tinker around with them. The only camera I have now to make vlogs is on my phone but my birthday is in February. Here's to hoping I'll get a nice camera.
4. I will become more organized with when and what I write (or edit). I have many projects going on and I need to figure a schedule where I can work on all of them, at least a little, once a week. This may take a while, I can organize anything physical, but time is slightly harder. Recently, I watched Kaleb Nation (author of the Bran Hambric books) on BlogTV. He was answering questions from viewers and I asked him what his suggestions for editing were (plus, two other questions, but we'll go into that some other time ^^). He said to set a time aside everyday, and do it, even on the rough days. So I will. First, I'm going to read through it. I might start doing that after I finish this up.
5. I will become better at critiquing others work. I don't really know how good I am now because I don't really go out of my way to do it. Sometimes I don't because I don't want to be picky and sometimes because I just don't feel like it. So I'm probably not the best. You have to give good critiquing to get it though. I better start practicing.
6. Last, but maybe not least, I'm going to be starting high school later this year, in August. I will not give in to peer pressure or do anything that I don't want to (excusing home work assignments). I've already decided that I won't smoke, do drugs, or anything sexual that I'm not ready to do. These are the things that they talk about the most in peer pressure but there may be other things. I've never had much peer pressure, no matter how much they bring it up. That may change in high school so I'm making this promise to myself.

Really, that's not very many. It just looks like it because I talked about each of them. XD They're all important to me though and I will work hard towards them (I hope!). I've already written my blog post for today, so see, it's already working. I'm also going to begin Chapter Six (as soon as I decide exactly where I want to start writing it from) and reading Thinking of You. I may log on to Teen Ink later and comment on some poems, or the NaNo website's Critiques, Feedback, and Novel Swaps forum.

For organization, I have a few things, mostly for the blog and much later projects (I know that doesn't do me much good now but it's a start) though once I get the Ledges section of the sidebar straightened out, that should be helpful. I've decided that since Poetry Peak has a specific day (Thursday), the Reading Trail should, too. I will update the Reading Trail list every Sunday, taking off books that have been completed and adding ones that I plan to read. Every week, there will be at least one review. I may have a specific day for this later but for now, it's just when I want to. For later projects, here's a list.

• The Chrysalis Experiment - (All Year Long) I'm not for sure that I'm doing this yet. This is a blog about three writers who are going to write a short story every week of 2011 and they're letting others join in. A prompt will be posted ever Monday. This is the part that makes me iffy. Prompts can be good, or bad. Uncreative prompts make me upset (I think I've mentioned this before) but as Madeline has reasoned, it's run by three writers. We've decided to wait out the first prompt before we decide. I'm hoping that this might help me kick start the City in the Sky series.
• NaPoWriMo - (April) This is a challenge to write a poem everyday in April. I'm doing this because I like writing poetry (as you probably guessed from Poetry Peak) and it won't get in the way of bigger projects like The Lullaby or Thinking of You. It will also be good practice and maybe I'll have a few new submissions for Teen Ink.
• NEPMo - (May) I've talked about this before. You're supposed to write a 5,000 line epic in May. I already have an idea for the plot and the format. I enjoy novels written in verse, and this is almost the same thing. I could easily turn it into one.
• WriDaNoJu - (June) This is almost exactly like NaNo except you can work on an already existing project and it's in June. I've decided to do it just for the existing project aspect. I've decided to treat The Lullaby's rewrite a bit more like a first draft since large aspects of the story are changing and I'm going to have to edit it anyway. If I'm not finished by then, well this should help, and if I finish it and haven't reached the word count, I'll just start on A Shimmer in the Light or Royally Burned.
• SeptNoWriMo - (September) This is yet another challenge that is almost exactly like NaNo except you can also edit. This is the reason I've decided to do it. Thinking of You is being edited and if I've finished doing that by then, The Lullaby will surely need it.
• NaNoWriMo - (November) Here it is, the big man himself; the original, and inspiration for most of the projects on this list. This challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I already have an inkling of an idea for this year. I like to start something fresh for each NaNo, not to continue a series. That's the reason I decided not to do GothNoWriMo. I need that idea for NaNo.

I know that seems like a lot but I still have January, February, March, July, August, October, and December completely free (well, besides The Chrysalis Experiment, but that's a little different) to work on whatever I please. I'm hoping to get a whole lot done this year, as you can tell. Here's to hoping it's a wonderful, successful year!