It's that time again--the perfunctory resolutions that look good on paper but which slowly fade as time and reality creep into the fibers.
So, my resolution is to make no resolutions.
Instead, I'm making a 'To Accomplish' List.I've read some writers are putting "Get Published in 2011" on their resolution lists.
Really? I wish getting published were that easy.
My 'To Accomplish' list doesn't have "Get Published in 2011".
Oh, I'm going to do all the right things to better my chances of getting published, but, ultimately, I know that actually getting published requires that a House somewhere out there wants to publish me. I'll make myself presentable, lovable, approachable, workable, amenable, punctual, and just down right adorable.
My job as a writer isn't "To Get Published". My job as a writer is to tell stories. Getting published is the reward for well-written tales and hard work, research, resolution, and stamina--not wishing.
If a writer is burning to get published, there are plenty of vanity and POD "houses" itching for such a writer's business. Hell, Tate Publishing needs another $4,000 from some publish-me-hungry writer.
My 'To Accomplish' includes finishing three novels I've been working on the past year, each with its own self-imposed deadline as well as two anthologies of short stories each based on a common theme. Sounds like an overload. Each task, though, is at the near completion stage, and I've been procrastinating about finishing any of them.
Entering writing contests is another "To Accomplish" goal. I've shied away from them--not because I was afraid of not winning, but because I was afraid to simply enter. It's like a runner who has talent and speed but is just too afraid to toe up to the starting line, or a talented surgeon who sweats bullets to make that very first cut.
Attending more writer meetings is on my 'To Accomplish' list as well. Living in Southwest Oklahoma is a bit like living on Mars, and if it weren't for email and the Internet, I wouldn't know what the hay was going on with the groups to which I belong. But, the Ethernet doesn't replace flesh and blood, and I not only want but need to be around other writers of like mind.
I started a writers group in SW-OK but with vacations and conferences, we only had two meetings. I've also got a creative writing club going at Altus High School with about 20 student members.
The more I'm around other writers, neophyte and professional, the more I want to write.
One way "To Accomplish" my goals is to actually Be A Writer. I read Carolyn See's "Making a Literary Life" a few years ago. I need to read it two or three times a year. So, I've started reading it again. I met Carolyn many years ago at a writers conference, and we've exchanged a few post cards since. The theme I get out of "Making a Literary Life" is that to Be A Writer I Must Live Like A Writer.
And that brings me to my next "To Accomplish" objective--read more. I teach high school English. I read constantly--student work, the works of the writers we're studying, reports, essays, research papers. By the time I get some time to myself, my eyes are crossed, my synapses have snapped, and my soul is exhausted.
I've found over the past few years that I have gotten away from reading just for the sake of reading. I read a few books this past year, but not near the number I want to read. Reading what others have published is to a writer what viewing game film of the opposing team is to an athlete. Read, read, read. That's what I tell my creative writing students. Good advice for me, too.
That's it.
I'm not actually making a list.
These "To Accomplish" objectives won't do me any good on a list. I've never been a "list" kind of guy. I prefer to mull and meditate so that what ever I have to accomplish becomes imbued with my heart and soul.
Putting these objectives on a list and posting them to the wall in front of my writing desk won't do me any good. After a while, the list will be absorbed by the wall and disappear, along with all the other lists and notes I have posted on the wall in front of my writing desk.
Oh, yeah: I'm raising two of my Grandchildren for the next 12 to 14 months while their father is deployed to Korea.
A bit longer than most book trailers, but I like it. Rather dramatic.
Thank God for LBJ's 1964 fear-mongering ads against Barry Goldwater. I've used the infamous Daisy Ad and the War on Poverty Ad to highlight the book trailer.
I enjoyed putting it together. It took about four different versions before I settled on this one.
One interesting side effect of making the book trailer is that the process of creating a visual interpretation of my story has inspired me to keep going and even generated new ideas and new enthusiasm for the tale.
I'm sure a professional book trailer maker could do a more precise and shorter version, but I still like this first attempt.
This is an experiment: workshopping my latest novel NEVЯLAND Online for readers and fans.
I'm running naked across the soccer field during the World Cup in front of God and everybody.
Am I crazy to do this? Of course I am.
But, I'm having fun, learning much, seeing Story from a different perspective, and enjoying the community of readers and writers in an organic writing and telling of Story!
One reason I'm doing this is because I live in the boonies and don't have a regular writers support group.
Another reason I'm doing this is because I still have yet to find a critique partner or two with whom he/she and I can be consistent and faithful in responding to and evaluating our respective stories. It's as much my fault as anybody else's.
And still another reason is because I value what readers think and how a reader looks at Story.
At the recent SCBWI, I heard one writer described as a writer's writer. That's really quite a mantle to bestow upon a writer.
Then I got to thinking: which would I prefer? Being a writer's writer or a reader's writer. Actually, somewhere in between would be the best place to be on the bookshelves.
The Twilight Saga is an extremely successful series with Readers despite that many Writers find much fault in the technicalities of the stories themselves; whereas, the Harry Potter series is mega-successful because it is able to run the entire spectrum of Reader-and-Writer approval and appeal to all sensibilities.
(To be honest, I really don't care which direction NEVЯLAND takes as long as the books are flying off the shelves and through the checkout line and/or being downloaded to many, many Kindles, iPads, and Sony E-readers!)
I'm inviting you not just to watch Story in the form of NEVЯLAND being created but to be an active participant--and I want to know what you think, generate ideas about the characters, setting, themes, and be an active participant in the evolution of a story--whether you're a Reader only or Writer-Reader.
The 19th Century Writers such as Dickens and Poe did this to a certain extent, often revising their novels, stories, and poems based on initial reader reaction.
The 21st Century Writer has an even better opportunity to workshop his Story to a larger audience and with much more speed and input than Dickens or Poe could ever imagine!
Feedback is welcomed, encouraged, and expected--even about the typos!
NEVЯLAND has taken on a life of its own. As I progress on this Work-in-Progress, a momentum I hadn't expected has started moving the story forward.
In one week, the NEVЯLAND Facebook Group grew to 266 members. We're now sitting at 271. The goal is to reach 1,000 by August.
To promote a personal interest in the story, I address members as NEVЯLANDers. If fact, the first fifty to join the NEVЯLAND Facebook Group have been given special privileges and deals. I'll offering similar privileges and deals when I reach the first 500.
I've also started publishing the Junebug Journal. Each edition will have news about the children and how they are handling the story. I'll introduce characters, some major, some minor, and some who will appear only in the Journal's weekly articles.
My intent is allow the first readers to be as much a part of the story and the process of writing the tale as the characters are.
Although I know many writing friends who would think my approach is crazy--to put my first drafts out for the world to see in all their naked primordial glory--would be crazy or suicide or both.
One of my writer's superstitions had been keeping my projects Top Secret.
I've changed that.
I've discovered I like to talk out my ideas, to get feedback and reactions, to measure the quality of the tale.
I don't mean that I'm going to apply all the suggestions the first readers send my way--but, feedback is feedback, and I'll glean the constructive ones out of the silly ones.
I'm building my own Frankenstein Creature.
But, unlike poor, stupid Victor, I'm not going to abandon my Creation--my Creation won't become a Daemon.
Rather, I will be the good father and make sure NEVЯLAND is raised as it should be--with discipline, care, and love.
Everyone loves a winner, and everyone loves to win! To promote NEVЯLAND--The Novel WIP, I'm having a series of contests. Here's the first contest I'm having:
Oh, yeah: I'm raising two of my Grandchildren for the next 12 to 14 months while their father is deployed to Korea. 
She gets the one-of-a-kind NEVЯLAND Stein.
NEVRLAND: Suffer the Children, Chapters 01-04, now on Scribd
I'm building my own Frankenstein Creature.
You'll have to keep track of which of your FB Friends join The Group or The Blog and send me their names when you reach ten.