Goooooooooooooooooooooooaaalllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!

(If you don't read that title with an overly-loud Hispanic announcer voice, you're doing it wrong.)

So here they are, as promised, but not with any kind of money-back warranty. If you don't like them, well, that's just too darn bad. I've got other goals, too, but I'm not going to post those. I'm keeping them all to my fat selfish self. However, if any of you want to keep tabs on me, and needle and annoy me and hold me to my own standards, I would certainly appreciate it (grumble...grumble). Please hold me to these!

1. I’m making time to write for at least 15 minutes a day 5 times per week. It could be random nothingness, or it could be something I’m squeezing toward completion. I’d say that I’d finish one of my novels, but I’m not that brave yet. It may not sound like much, but it's more than I'm doing right now so pppbbbbllltt!!

I want to write more, but this is my goal. It’ll probably end up happening while I give my 9th grade dorks writing time, or hopefully even more so with my Guys Who Write Club—so far only one loser has signed up. It might take more than a miracle to get this tub o’ lard off the ground.

2. Before the end of the year I need to have another professional piece ready for publication. Maybe I could get paid this time. Oh, what’s that? Payment from educational journals comes in tender not accepted in most free markets? Crap.

3. I need to take the time to listen to the muses and WRITE DOWN what they say—not just bat them away. Sometimes I get them mixed up with mosquitoes. What can I say? I worry about that West Nile stuff. I think they’re getting tired of me not listening. Maybe I should turn down the music, too. Hmm…. Along with this, I need to finish projects, not just start them. I’ve got an epitaph for Buddy sitting on the shelf, the poem I started about tenderhearted little Zac, one about Sariah and her slant of light. My short story about a kid who actually learns through osmosis is still incubating. My self-promised research on osmosis still dreads my 10th grade biology experience with Mr. Brock. Maybe I’ll just include that spindly dork of a reed and his paintbrush of a mustache in the story. Ha! That’ll teach him to give me detention. There’s also the piece I want to write for Amy that should have been done by Christmas but I’ll be lucky if I make any headway by Easter—and I still don’t even know what genre it needs to be cast in. So I guess #4 will be to finish a project or three.

5. I’m going to post on my blog at least three times a month. Don’t hold your breath, though. I'm not sure how many actually read this anyway.

There. As always, any suggestions, corrections, or blatant honesty is always welcome.