revolution!

December 31, 2007

I typically do not make resolutions, but set myself some goals for the upcoming year. I don’t keep resolutions, but I’m pretty good at trying to achieve goals. :)

I also tend to be very…work-oriented. (I’ve had people ask me to talk more about my life on my blog, and a bit less about writing. The terrible thing is, I *do*. This should give you an idea of how much life I have outside of writing!) For example, the one revolution I *totally* failed to keep in 2007 was the one that involved getting out and seeing more of Ireland.

So this is what I’m thinking for 2008. The truth is, we all know I’m going to write three or four hundred thousand words. I have to. I have books due. It’s not much of a goal to fulfill my contracts. (I mean, come on, really, people don’t put “get up and go to work every day” on their New Year’s Resolutions lists.) We know I’m going to walk five or six hundred miles, because I’ve been doing that since, what, 2003? Yeah, 2003. We know I’m going to read at least 52 books and that I’ll aim for 104 and probably read around 80. These are the kinds of things that’ve been my goals for the last several years. I don’t really have to write them down to make them real or concrete, but if I do, well, gosh, then those are My Goals, and by George I can focus on them instead of other things that might be good for me!

So off the top of my head, some things I really, really want to do:

– visit Paris
– do Ireland-based sight-seeing
– study Spanish
– draw more
– practice the tin whistle
– join the photography club

Out of those, the only one that gets me out of the house and interacting with others in the immediate is the photography club, and that’s something else I need to focus on. The music, though–there are a lot of trad bars around here, and there’s at least one I know about that’s got a group that’s still feeling its way, so I could maybe nerve myself up to attend and try to learn from them. So that’s another potential social venue, which would be good for me.

A lot of this–and I *know* it, I just have to *deal* with it in a concrete manner–is based on scheduling. It’s my tendency to behave as though Writing Trumps All, and to put off things I would enjoy/would be good for me in favor of writing, even if “writing” is “sitting at the computer sullenly not getting any work done”. I use it as an excuse, and I need to work on that.

So I think trying to achieve most or all of these things would be real revolutions, and a genuine challenge in a way that my revolutions of the last several years have not been.

And this should be the first post to/from my WordPress blog at the new mizkit.com, so click on through to see the new design if you like. I will, oh, let’s see. In keeping with the new design, I will send a copy of TAKE A CHANCE (I have printouts) to one random person selected out of those who leave a comment at the new site. (WordPress does require that first comments be moderated, and then thereafter you can comment freely, so your comment may not show up right away, but I’ll get ’em all moderated within 24 hours. Probably sooner.)

Happy New Year to all!

(God I hope this works right.)

14 thoughts on “revolution!”

  1. Well, it got through to LJ, so that’s good news. I’ll be interested to see how commenting works.

    As for Paris, this year (for values of this year that start in a little over 7 hours) we will be in Paris for Valentine’s Day. We were intending to just change trains, but although I’ve even slept in Paris, I’ve never actually visited the place – it’s always been somewhere in the way to somewhere else. So, we’re staying two nights, and will actually see it.

    (I’ve spent probably a month of my life in France, just not Paris.)

  2. Yay, it worked!

    I look forward to reading your posts about playing the tin whistle in Paris, or better yet, Spain.

  3. Looking good from here! Vive la revolution! (And I guess I can stop looking for the icon button when posting here, too =)

  4. I hope you do well with your resolutions! I have two standing resolutions: A) Love myself more 2) Win the Lottery I am still working on both, but that isn’t a bad thing.

    Happy New Year! I look forward to adding your new books to my list of books read in 2008!

  6. After you learn the tin whistle, make a YouTube video of yourself playing it! It would be great to see you “live” again!

  7. Love the new site – I can help *some* with Ireland visits – ie can help with one location.

    Hmm – shall have to work on MY goals for 2008 now.. May wait til tomorrow – off to celebrate now – HAPPY NEW YEAR

  8. I wish there was an easy way to merge comments between the various feeds. It is one of the things that always seemed counterproductive of the multiple blog sites that some authors use.

  10. I like it. Easier to find information and it looks very attractive.

    Spanish is a good one. Do you know any other languages? Maybe celtic would be interesting. I am currently studying Japanese and Chinese since I already had 3 1/2 years of Spanish and wanted something very different. My poor head.

    Working on your HEART OF STONE now. Thanks for writing something for all us to read for the new year!

  12. Yay! I am so happy you are on teh wordpresses.

    Live journal feeds having been working with my bloglines for almost a year now, so it’ll be nice to have you on that again.

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