Happy New Years!

Wow, it's amazing that today starts the first of a new year. This means, reflection and goal-setting time. If you are into that sort of thing. Which, I'm great at the setting part, but not so great at the following through part. All in all, 2011 had some real bad times and some really great times.

I moved twice this year, was pretty much homeless for a while, couldn't find work, etc etc. But I also wrote and published a novel. That in its self was epically amazing. I also earned my MFA in Creative Writing and wrote and published four more short stories. So, those things were great. One of the best things, though, was that my Husband and I finally made it back out to Kansas and are doing better. We have a place to live, we make enough money to survive, and I have a job that is part time but makes enough money to help support us so that I can have time to write as well. Pretty good year in the end, despite the bad.

For 2012, I imagine it's going to be great. Hopefully, anyway. My number one biggest goal for the new year is to learn to focus and maximise my productivity. I have issues with following through on things, even if they are important, unless it's for something like school or a job with foreseeable negative impacts like getting a B or losing your job. I started an exercise in productivity a week or so ago, and I will work on it some more to see if I can retrain myself to stay focused and work my ass off to do the things I want and love. Since all of those horrible, negative things that happened last year should not effect me any more, I will be able to get writing things done without feeling guilty too.

My second goal is to write three (3) novels next year. It's a huge stretch for me, but if I can get myself focused and productive, it really shouldn't be too hard. Ideally, I'd like to also publish those three. It would be great to write and publish a short story every other month too, but I don't want to push it to the point of no getting anything done.

I want to make 2012 a great year, not only for my writing and my business, but for me to have some fun too. There was so much stress last year that 2012 should be the year of awesome. I'm going to try my damnedest to make everything I want come true.

Also, there had better be snow in 2012, or so help me... *shakes fist*

I wish for the best 2012 for everyone and hope you all had a great 2011! Let me know if you have any cool 2012 goals or plans too!

Accountability

Today I want to talk about accountability, mainly because I have to have accountability to get things done. I'm a serious procrastinator when it comes to difficult tasks or tasks I don't really enjoy, so it's important for me to hold myself accountable. The difficult thing with this, though, is finding the most effective way to do so.

For example, when I'm doing work for homework, it's easier to get things done because I know my grade depends on it. I also know that I will see results pretty soon after, so it helps me understand that if I choose not to do whatever it is, then I will hurt myself in the long run.

It's also easier when I have a project that is important to someone else. For example, when I was working on edits for my book that needed to get out to a beta reader by a certain time, I knew that I couldn't screw around. If I took too long, then she'd lose her window of opportunity to read it without having to pile it on top of other projects. Since I didn't want to burden her with excess work, I was able to use accountability to get it done on time.

What about a project that has only myself to worry about, though? I still struggle with this. I have a writing timeline that I need to follow if I want to get my stories and books out when I say they should be out. What happens if I don't stick to the timeline? Nothing. Not really, anyway. Nothing really happens because I don't get a bad grade because of it or fail to keep a promise to a friend. There is no visible waste of money, either. But what do I get if I stay on track? Nothing. Again, nothing really... at least not in the short run.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things I get screwed on if I don't, but because they are not immediate, it's much easier to blow them off. For example, the short story I'm still working on, which was supposed to be finished almost a month ago, is just sitting here unfinished. It's not making any money, it's not helping me promote, it's not getting out there to the world. Why? Because I'm procrastinating or doing other things. Not working on it is only hurting myself.

So, how can we come up with ways to hold ourselves accountable when there are not any tangible or immediate consequences? Haha, well, I'm still working on this, but some things that help me are telling people what I'm working on and when they can expect to see it. By giving them a date, I've made it so they will expect something then. On my website, for example, I have release dates for some of my books. They are tentative, really, but having them up there and public helps me a little. If I tell someone that they will see my book in December and they look forward to it, then I'd be stupid to blow it off.

Another thing that works for me is to have writing buddies. Whether I'm word sprinting, at a write in, or #wordmongering on Twitter it's better to have other people around who are in the same boat. If I join in, then they ask "Did you do any writing?" I don't have to feel like an idiot by saying "Dur, nope. No writing." Instead, I force myself to work and get things done.

With all of that said, and of course it is much easier said than done, I'm still working on this whole accountability thing. If I want my dreams to come true, so to speak, I have to work for it. I've got to actually DO things. I can't expect it to happen while I sit around and do nothing, right? Hopefully I can find a good balance and keep myself from backing off when I should be pushing forward.

[READER RESPONSE] How do you create accountability? What things have you done that made you successfully work and finish things when you didn't feel like it. Any words of wisdom or awesome tips?

2010 Book List and Updates

Since updates are shorter than the rest of this blog post, I will be starting with them. I worked all weekend to learn how to code a wordpress theme in order to build my website. I know XHTML, CSS and a bit of PHP, but wordpress was different for me. I had been struggling with completely customising a theme, but in the end I figured it all out and I'm quite pleased. I still need to add content though, so don't be alarmed if your browse through and find nothing there yet. It should be 100% finished by the end of the week.

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my 2010 goals is to read at least 2 books per month. I hope to do more since I would like to read as much as possible, and I would also like write some reviews as well. I've compiled a list so far; it's small and in no particular order.


+The Mist by Stephen King
+Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull
+Adam by Ted Dekker^
+Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore*
+Under the Dome by Stephen King^
+The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor*
+The Phoenix Enchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory*
+Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
+People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
+Deadtown by Nancy Holzner*
+Incarceron by Catherine Fisher*
+The Hunger Game by Suzanne Collins
+Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld*
+Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox*
+Found: The Missing Book by Margaret Peterson Haddix
+The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
+Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl*
+Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austin and Seth Grahme-Smith*
+The House of Lost Souls by F.G Cottam*
+Once a Witch by Carolyn McCullough*
+The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan*
+Impact by Douglas Preston*
+Cold Black Hearts by Jeff Mariotte*
+Ruined: A Novel by Paula Morris*
+The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan*
+House of Reckoning - by John Saul*
+Hush, Hush - Becca Fizpatrick*
+Midnighters, book 1 - Scott Westerfeld*
+Shutter Island - Dennis Lahane*
+The 39 Clues, book 1 - Rick Riordon*
+The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
+Ash - Malinda Lo
+Eyes Like Stars - Lisa Mantchev*
+I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
+Seeing Red - Frank Beddor*
+The Circle book 1 - Ted Dekker^


If you have any additional suggestions, or if you are a writer who would like me to do a book review of your book, please drop some titles and authors in a comment for me or message me. I will be adding to this list as I go along, and will strike off those I have finished reading.

^Means that I am unsure whether or not I will write a review.
*Means I will for sure write a review.

Put the LURE in Failure and the New Year

To anyone who followed me for NaNoWriMo, I wish I could bring good news. Let's just say that I failed horribly even if I wrote more than I have in ages. In the end I got distracted and discouraged and then miserable. This seems to happen a lot to me.

What I think happens is that once something starts getting too big or complex or becomes an overwhelming amount of work, I seem to just shut down and freeze up. This is a serious issue for me because I want to accomplish certain things in life so desperately. I have many goals and I am sure they are possible to achieve, but getting myself to actually finish them or even finish a small piece of them is like pulling teeth.

A couple of days ago, I came across two highly inspirational websites brimming with invaluable information. Not only have the articles from these two sites helped me understand a lot of my own issues, they have also made it clear to me that my goals are not unattainable if I just fight for them.

The first site is WAHM Biz Builder and it is a coaching site for Work At Home Mums. You might wonder how a website geared towards mothers who work from home could help me or anyone else for that matter, but the great thing is that the tips and articles found at wahmBizBuilder.com are fundamentally substantial which makes them universal. While I may not be a mother yet, and I do stress yet, I do want to learn how to make a living by working at home and eventually become a work at home mum. Some of the concepts found within the articles don't even have to target businesses women, or men.

For example, I have a friend who has trouble following through with things and can't seem to reach or keep her own personal life goals. I gave her a few links to wahmBizBuilder.com and a couple from Men With Pens and she was still able to use the information to help her with her non business goals.

This brings me to the second website I found helpful: Men With Pens. This site has a vast number of informative articles ranging from business to web design to writing. How to Make Scary-Big Stuff Happen is probably one of my favourite articles because it helps break down large, daunting goals into small, manageable goals.

With that said, I am working on sorting out my goals and thought I would share a few.

My top two goals:

• Work completely from home and make enough money to survive in doing so.
• Finish one of my novels.

Secondary goals that I'd like but can happen later:

• Go to grad school and earn my masters (without getting further in debt).
• Get rid of my school debt.

I also have a few life goals, but I think I will refrain from sharing those right now. One of my sub-goals is going to be to rework my website and blog(s) completely. I think Scribble Me This will be a part of my main site as well.

At any rate, if you have any inspirational goal setting and achieving websites, please share them.