Last year, I resolved to:
- revise The Secret Common-Wealth
I didn't finish it. I started second-guessing myself. I was going to collapse some characters together, but then decided maybe I shouldn't. Plus, I really need to either go to Scotland, or find some super-detailed reference material to get the location details right. Or at least close. - finish writing White Foxes, Full Moon
I didn't. I decided that White Foxes was really meant to be a series of short stories and form the second part of Friesland Stories (formerly Vinland Stories). Then, I when I went to separate it into its component stories, I discovered they were more closely intertwined that I'd thought. So I left it alone a while. Then I decided it probably should be a novel after all. Now I'm getting antsy about working on it again, which is good, even though I failed to keep both resolutions so far. - finish writing Vinland Stories (now called Friesland Stories)
This one isn't a total failure, though the goal of finishing became much less likely when I decided that White Foxes wasn't going to be part of it after all. I did get a few more stories written, just not all of them. They tend to only come out good when I let them come out one their own. The one I wrote just to get another one done isn't very good. Geh. - complete at least three more issues of Fey
I didn't realize how unrealistic this was until I started working on it. I can finish a page in a day, but it takes the entire day. And I can only really spare one whole day--occasionally two-- out of a week, which means I can only effectively do a page a week. And since I decided to re-do the first part to make the gutters the right size and correct the worst of my anatomical blunders, there was no way I'd get three more parts done. I finished the re-do of part 1 and am almost halfway through part 2. I didn't meet the letter of this resolution, but I'm satisfied that I did it in spirit. - send out more stories
I did this, though I didn't really send out as many as I probably intended. - revise Fox Point Dragon and send it to publishers
I didn't touch this at all. It's never felt like a very high priority, partly because I'm not sure it's any good. Perhaps now that I'm more distanced from it, I can work on it. - revise Jenny's Troll and send it to publishers
I didn't do this, either. The revisions needed are really only the rewriting of one scene, but it's going to be difficult to do. Plus, I can't decide if I should illustrate it myself, of just submit the text. - work very hard on Three Sisters
Didn't do this. I worked on it a bit. I thought about it very hard. But that's all I managed. - look for an agent
I know the agent I want, I'm just too chicken to send her an email to see if she's even taking new writers. I really need to do this soon, though. - occasionally go outside to remind myself that there is a world
I think I did okay on this one, though I didn't get out hiking and such as much I wanted to.
Looks prety disnal, hey? But I did also write the first draft of an entirely new novel (well, one that's not on the list--I had the basic idea for it ages ago). You can even read the draft online. I also got back into exercising fairly regularly, and lost ten pounds (then gained 5 back, but still . . .). I wrote a lot of stuff for About, I got my first professional non-fiction print publication, I read a whole lot of books, and . . . I can't think of anything else, but I did a few other good things. So all-in-all, I'm a bit embarassed that I made so many resolutions I didn't quite keep, but not unhappy with the progress I made this year.
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