New Year

I woke up this morning with a feeling of beginning anew, in a way that I don't normally experience on January 1. Maybe it's the fact that this is not only the start of a new year, but a new decade. Or maybe it was the fresh coating of snow that covered the world outside my window. Whatever the reason, I am relishing it.

I plan to spend the day writing, casting on this sweater(link only available to ravelry.com members), which I'm making for myself (!), catching up on the emails I got behind on while away in Arizona for Christmas (pics to come), and maybe watching a movie (or napping while a movie plays in the background....).

Oh, and I promised myself I'd start doing this exercise DVD I bought myself for Christmas--Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I'm not resolving to lose weight or get in better shape this new year. I will not be one of those people who makes a weight loss resolution come January 1. But call it what you will, that workout is on my list of January 1 things to do.

Have a great New Year's Day, all!

New Year's Resolutions

I think I've posted before about this 6 Word Memoir Project. Currently they have a 6 Word New Year's Resolution Project. I just posted a few on the site:

More: writing, kissing, dog walking, connecting

Will do more "wants," fewer "shoulds"

Remember: Where you are is OK

Listen to inner voice when deciding

What are your resolutions-in-6-words?

Amazingly, I think those few words about sum up my goals for the year, at least at the meta level. More specifically, I hope to:

Finish a draft of the novel by March, spend the spring revising, and then have writer-friends review it over the summer.

Publish a #*^&$% story already. (A few are out in the world, hopefully finding wonderful, loving homes as we speak.)

Really think about whether I want to say yes to something before doing so. I've found that I get really resentful when I say yes to things I don't really want to do, which isn't fair to myself or the person doing the inviting. After all, it's not her fault I overbooked myself instead of possibly disappointing her.

Put the time and effort necessary into my marriage to keep it strong. It is the most important relationship in my life, but nurturing it can fall by the wayside if I'm not careful, which is so silly because nurturing it is actually quite enjoyable!

Walk the dogs in the woods/dog park once a week, no matter the weather. I love getting out there with them, and so do they. Just have to make it a priority.

Continue my routines regarding: morning pages, meditation, exercising, and writing.

That's about it from me. I'd love to hear your resolutions, too!

Year in Review

I feel lucky to have a birthday smack dab in the middle of the calendar year. It gives me an opportunity to reflect every six months--in January at the start of the New Year, and in June at the start of my New Year.

I read back on this post regarding my Writing Action Plan for 2009, and I'm happy to say I'm on track: I'm working on the ole novel, and have 2 stories I'm sending out (and getting a lot of rejection notices on...). I sent in a query to NPR, and also got a rejection. But hey, I sent it! So I'm trying at least. I attended Grub Street's Muse and the Market Place (and will post about it soon... better late than never, no?).

I have also recently begun some volunteer activities, which I'm quite proud of. I'm going to start tutoring some ESL students in Brockton (a nearby town that has a big immigrant population) in July, and I've contributed time and seedlings to a garden plot whose produce will go to a food pantry.

Speaking of gardening, I'm taking time to do a lot of it. I'll post some pics (including one of a basil leaf as big as my hand!) as soon as I can find the damn cord that connects the camera to the computer.


There is still much I'd like to do in 2009:
1. Publish a story,
2. Get a second draft of most, if not all, of my novel
3. Do NaNoWriMo in November
4. Get one more story finalized and into send-out rotation.

But all in all, the first half of 2009 has been a mostly happy, mostly productive time, which is all I can ask for really.

Resolutions

New Years resolutions
Here's another belated New Year's post, and my last post for a while as I'll be at my MFA residency starting tonight. I am SO looking forward to a week's worth of very intense motivation, mostly in the form of being with the other students, who are so inspirational!

I’m big into make resolutions all the year through, but I still like to take some time on the New Year and think about my goals for the year to come.

• I’d like to do more yoga and meditating, hopefully getting it up to a daily practice
• I’d like to reinvigorate my morning pages routine (which flagged last month)
• Be really good to my body, exercise and eating wise
• Send out a fiction piece for publication (yikes!)
• And most of all I’d like to really try to be good to the environment. I already recycle ardently, and compost, too. I barely drive. But I’d like to take things one step further. I’d like to consume less by really thinking about whether I need the stuff I’m buying, and then trying to buy from good companies like No Sweat when I can, and supporting artists by buying from www.etsy.com instead of mass marketed products. (Maybe not an environmental help, but it still makes the world a little better, I think.) I also plan to use natural products like vinegar and lemon juice as cleaners instead of chemicals, and to eat more organic dairy and produce. And overall just to keep in mind that my choices do affect the world, and hopefully that by changing my lifestyle I can influence others to do the same.

A very belated New Year's Eve post

(Here's the post I wrote on New Year's eve but couldn't post because of internet troubles.)

I generally like New Years as a concept. The idea of starting over with a fresh slate, making new goals, looking back at another year over. I’m not big into New Year’s Eve, all the pressure to do something amazingly fun. (This year I’ll be having dinner out with my family and then playing board games— maybe not amazing exactly, but fun.)

This year, I’ve accomplished a lot. (I am mostly thinking about July through December. Late June is when I started my MFA program; July is when I started this blog. The months before that weren’t that great for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into.)

I’ve posted hundreds of blog posts
Written and revised two short stories
Written three essays
Gotten one essay published—my first money made from creative writing! (Still not sure how to spend it; I’ll solicit ideas in a future post)
Published 5 other pieces in the Globe
Got a promotion at work
Gotten 6 rejections
Sent out pieces to 7 publications
Celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary (and 8 years as a couple)
Made a few new friends (through my MFA program and dog walking
Lost a few others
Knit 1 scarf (started 2 others), 2.5 hats, 2 pairs of baby booties, 2 baby hats, 2 pairs of baby mittens, 5 Ipod covers, and 3 bookmarks
Planted over 100 bulbs, which are hopefully underground doing their thing to get ready to make their bright appearance in the spring.

All in all, a very good (half a year). I’ve very proud of my creative accomplishments, and look forward to doing more in 2007.

Happy New Year all, and thanks so much for reading. Blogging has been a really great outlet for me, and I appreciate your time and cyber friendship.