New Year - Old Stuff (but some that's new, too)

Happy new year, a little late. That's not new for me. I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short. This too shall pass (there's a couple of my many old cliches that I live by.) So I guess I'll start with the old.

I'm hoping to get my annual haircut soon. (see my first post from last Sept. for the answer to your question.) It will be a little earlier than usual because I splurged and got my hair highlighted last year. My hair is currently resembling straw at the ends, so it's definitely time. The Man was good and got me a gift certificate to my hair place, so I will probably do a biannual hair cutting this year! I can hear your ooohhs and aahhhs of excitement.

I'm still working on the same old WIPs I was last year. Sigh. I don't feel like I've made much progress, but I've only been seriously writing for about a year and a half. I know I have so much to learn, and I need to contemplate what Vicki so eloquently put into words (here), because she summed up my problem exactly. Stresses of life and the sea monkeys are wearing me down. My goals are to have (Brass In Pocket) finished and a little bit polished by July, and to finish the rewrite additions to the middle of (Shifting Her World) by March - which leads to the new.

I'm planning on entering Shifting Her World into a contest. I don't believe that it will win, but I think the experience will be beneficial, but most of all, it will give me a deadline. I'm an A-1 procrastinator, but if given a deadline, I will meet it or die trying. That's why I was able to finish the first shorter version of Shifting so quickly. I wrote the 26k manuscript in about two months, which is very quick for me, to submit it for a specific call from Samhain. So I'm going to try and employ the deadline technique by requiring myself to have the entire ms done by or right after submission. Then when the agent calls me at home begging me to give her the rest of the story, I'll be prepared. (Remember the name of the blog, guys? Here's one of those moments :)!)

I'm also thinking seriously about going to National this year. It probably won't happen due to the fact that I would have to go late, and that's a big waste of enrollment fee. Plus the cost of the entire endeavor will most likely be out of reach this year.

Another new happening is that I decided to step out of my comfort zone by offering to be a speaker at the local chapter. My talk will give the basics of self defense/karate practices so writers can insert realism into kick-ass heroines. The last time I spoke like this in front of a group of peers, I broke out into hives right after it was done. We'll see how it goes. I have until September to stew.

So there's something old and something new. I won't bother with the borrowed and blue. Been there. Done that. Anything new on the horizon for you? Or any traditions to start the new year off with? Let's hear it!