3...2...1...

It’s that time of year again. The time where everyone makes over exaggerated promises to themselves under the guise of a fresh start. Convince themselves that this was the time of year they were waiting for. A new beginning. Yes, I’m talking about those dreaded New Year’s Resolutions. I’m a member of that guilty faction, and in order to hold myself somewhat accountable for them, I’m publicly announcing them. Maybe, just maybe I’ll hold to them…until February at least.


It’s no secret I like urban fantasy. I read urban fantasy. I write urban fantasy. I’m in this little corner of the literate world out there and I feel like I need to stretch a little further. New Year’s Resolution #1 is to read at least one book a month that is not of the fantasy persuasion. Last year I read a few. Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol for one…if there’s a second one, I can’t recall. First up for January is either The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or maybe Kelley Armstrong’s Nadia Stafford books. Or maybe even Stephen King’s On Writing. I’ve been meaning to read them, but they keep falling further down my TBR pile.

New Year’s Resolution #2 is to finally query my novel. Either of them. The adult or the YA. Of course that means completeing the first draft of the YA so my betas can have at it or finally finishing the rewrite of my adult urban fantasy that I’ve been “in the middle of” since summer. Of course, this then leads into New Year’s Resolution #3…

Write at least 500 new words a day. The key word here is “new.” Not editing, but actual words. 500 words is a piece of cake…when you actually site down a do it. 500 words a day is roughly 15,000 a month. That’s a lot of words, and by the way, I am giving myself a little leeway on this: if I scrap a scene during my revisions and completely rewrite it, I’m counting that as “new” and not “editing.” Don’t argue. You’ll lose.

New Year’s Resolution #4 is attend a con. There’s actually two that I’m eyeing up because they’re fairly small and relatively close: The Pennwriter’s Conference in Pittsburg in May and the Author’s After Dark conference in Philly in August. Now AAD is a romance conference, but I figure there’s so much to learn that (a) it doesn’t matter and (b) don’t most stories have romantic elements anyways? So it counts, and it’s on the table. Besides, some of the fantasy I read is romance. Though Backspace is having a one day Donald Maas workshop, but the price…*sigh*

I have other resolutions including getting my website up and running, blogging more, photographing more, losing weight...blah, blah, blah. But those four are my big ones, my goals. If I accomplish nothing else in 2011, I’ll be happy. Scratch that. Ecstatic. What about you? What are your New Year’s Resolutions? Suggestions for my non-urban fantasy reading list? Cons to attend on the East Coast?

The Silverman Family

Back before November swept me away, I traveled to New Jersey to visit my brother and his family.  I'd been wanting to shoot portraits of them for a while and I finally succeeded.  We headed to the ocean, just north of Seaside, and timed it right for great lighting, and beautiful clouds. 

Doesn't Sydney have the cutest smile?  But don't let it fool you.

Here's the happy family, and almost everyone is looking at the camera!  LOL.  I love the light in this one.

So calm.  So peaceful.  Such a lie.  >:-)

Reann and Collin

Digging in the sand because you can't go to the beach and not dig a hole.  I actually think that's a law.

My favorite picture.

He's just sizing up his escape and plans for world domination.  That's all.

Zee plane!  Zee plane!  No, Sydney.  That's a kite.

I love you guys, and yes, even you Jeff, though you constantly beat me up and I have to threaten abuse charges. 
But that's what family's for, right?

Recovery

There are certain times of the year that cause havoc for any number of reasons. Approaching the holiday season, such as now, is one of them for most. But not for me.

Because the moment December rolls around, I can breathe just a little easier. You see, my full time day job hits its busiest time of the year in November and then almost dies to nothing in December. Compound that with an extremely heavy October, and I’ve had eight weeks of insane work. At the one job.

I also picked up a part time job surrounding myself with books at a local bookstore. The benefits and enjoyment of being surrounded by something I love to spend my free doing (reading / writing) outweighed the meager earnings and loss of free time. I enjoy the job. And adding 15-20 more hours of work to my schedule.

And of course, there was NaNoWriMo. What’s that you may ask? It’s short for National Novel Writing Month, which is, naturally, November. You are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel in only 30 days. The breakneck speed and time limit forces you to turn off the web surfing, stop playing on facebook and twitter, put words to page and edit later. I attempted it last year and won, so naturally I had to try again this year. On top of my now 70 hour work week. Did I cross the finish line? Absolutely. But only just and there were more than a few times I didn’t think I’d make it.

A few things were sacrificed for time. My blog for one has not been updated (until now). Content for my new site launching soon has been temporarily placed on hold. I haven’t read a new book since before October. I reread Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series gearing up for Last Sacrifice’s release next week and did not read anything during November. Fixed that already, having just finished JR Ward’s Crave. My house…yeah. Let’s not go there and just say that my vacation time I’m using during this month is not only for my writing.




My siser-in-law and nephew



November was intense. Fast paced. Stress-filled. It almost got to me. So while everyone is gearing up for Christmas and the stress of shopping, I’m in my recovery zone. Cleaning up from November’s mess, using the rest of my vacation, slowing the breakneck speed on my NaNo piece so I can finish the draft satisfactorily, and reading. Lots of reading planned.

And post more photos like this one because the new site is coming soon and I can’t wait to share it with you all. So how do you all de-stress?