Dear 2012,

Before I begin, I would like to apologize for not properly celebrating your introduction. Instead of the usual alcohol infused night, followed by an aspirin infused first of the year, you will be welcomed by my husband and I as we snuggle on our couch with a baby in bed, a glass of wine and a kiss at midnight.

Onward, I have steep goals for you my friend. Believe it or not, none of them involve losing weight, as was a resolution to most of your predecessors. I have several goals and resolutions I would like to discuss. I understand that some of them are not very likely to happen with you, but being a published author is a life goal of mine and not just designated to the confines of your 12 months.

My goals and resolutions are as follows:

Resolutions:

1) To attend as many family 'child' birthday parties as I am able

2) To take my dog for more walks

3) To Make lunches for work at least 3 days a work week for both me and the husband

4) Start saving money for emergencies

5) Read at least one book to my daughter every day

Goals:

1) Finish my YA SciFi manuscript by May. (It is currently 1/3rd of the way finished.)

2) Have aforementioned manuscript submission-ready by July.

3) Write a Query

4) Write a Synopses

5) Start submitting to agents by August.

6) Have a rejection

7) Have a partial request

8) Have a full request

9) Have an offer of representation

10) Accept an offer of representation

11) Read a minimum of 25 books

12) Go camping (at least once)

I don't usually go into a new year with such high hopes, as the past few years have been agonizing to say the least. 2011 changed my life forever, with the birth of my daughter, and I am determined to make you continue that trend. I will not only celebrate my daughters first birthday with you but also my 10 year 'total anniversary' with my husband.

Needless to say, you will be a big year regardless of my completion of these goals and resolutions, but why not make this year the best it can be?

Here's to me, you, my copy of 2012 Writers Market, and our journey that will start in a few short days.

(total anniversary is the total length of time I have been with my husband, from the very beginning of our relationship.)

In Which All the Things!

After making my rounds on a few of my favorite writers blogs the past few days, I have found that several of them have post titles, within the past month, that start with "In Which". One of my previous post even started with it!

I have always been a sucker for titles that start out with "In Which", but now it seems to be way overused.

Looks like I am going to have to rename all my chapter titles now. Sad face.

In which I Fail NaNoWriMo...or not.

I would like to congratulate all winners of NaNoWriMo 2011! Winning is no easy feat.

If you follow me on the Twitter, it's no secret that I have failed NaNoWriMo, for the second year in a row. Although I believe it is not a complete loss.

Firstly, I finished the month with writing just over 30,000 words and I have to say that I am very proud of every one of them. Crappy or not. This is the most word outage that I have had in my entire writing life. Averaging close to 1,000 words a day is amazing for me.

Writing does not come as easy to me as I wish it would. If When I finish this first draft it will be the single most hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Just because it doesn't come easy to me doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it on some level. I love editing what I've already written. I can edit like a mad house, it's getting the words on the paper the first time that is a challenge for me.

Second and most importantly, by forcing myself to write almost everyday I have come up with two mind blowing plot twists. I blame this for not reaching 50k. Once I thought of the first twist, I edited my outline to accommodate it. Then as I was editing for that twist, I thought of the second and added that in as well. I broke NaNoWriMo rule number one, DON'T EDIT!

I have never been a force-yourself-to-write advocate but now I see why some writers do it. It really gets the juices flowing and all the thought process to get those proverbial juices flowing can lead you to some great revelations and ideas.

I am so passionate about this story that it drives me crazy. I want to shout the plot from the rooftops but as an aspiring author I'm terrified someone is going to steal my idea and be awesome with my awesomeness. I'm not awesome very often so when I am, I savor it :) I haven't even told my mother the detailed plot yet because I want her to experience the surprise when I let her read the completed first draft.

In conclusion, my NaNoWriMo fail maybe wasn't a fail at all. Yes I failed the ultimate goal of nano which is to write 50K, but the underlying goal is to get people writing and I think I made it out of the nano madness with a few scraps and bruises to show off.

How was your NaNoWriMo expierence?