{"id":9015,"date":"2014-01-02T18:15:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T01:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=9015"},"modified":"2014-01-02T18:26:26","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T01:26:26","slug":"resolutions-and-such-for-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/resolutions-and-such-for-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Resolutions and such for 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, I know this post is a couple of days late.\u00a0 Yesterday I was busy publishing <strong>Star Wanderers: Deliverance (Part VIII),<\/strong> though, and the day before that I was on the train, and today I had to renew my vehicle registration &#8230; enough! \u00a0On to the resolutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Publish something every 6 weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One thing I really need to get better about is publishing new work. \u00a0So this year, I&#8217;m going to do my damnedest to follow a regular publishing schedule. \u00a0I don&#8217;t know\u00a0<em>what<\/em> I&#8217;ll be publishing, exactly, but I have a pretty good idea, and surprisingly enough it actually works out to a lot less work than you&#8217;d think:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>WEEK 1:\u00a0<strong>SW-VIII: Deliverance<\/strong>\u00a0(already done)<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 7:\u00a0<strong>SW V-VIII: \u00a0Tales of the Far Outworlds<\/strong>\u00a0(the second STAR WANDERERS omnibus&#8211;basically, I just need to write the Author&#8217;s Note and get a cover, since the stories have already been written).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 13:\u00a0<strong>Science Fiction from A to Z<\/strong> (a book version of last year&#8217;s A to Z blogging challenge, released just in time for this year&#8217;s A to Z, for which I&#8217;ve already thought of an awesome theme).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 19:\u00a0<strong>Heart of the Nebula<\/strong> (rough draft already written, just need to rewrite\/revise).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 25:\u00a0<strong>Sons of the Starfarers Book I: Brothers in Exile<\/strong> (already written).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 31: <b>Sons of the Starfarers Book II: ???<\/b> (this one I still have to write).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 37:\u00a0<strong>Sons of the Starfarers Book III: ???<\/strong> (also need to write, but both of these are novellas so they shouldn&#8217;t take too long).<\/li>\n<li>WEEK 43: Open slot&#8211;maybe I&#8217;ll publish\u00a0<strong>Lifewalker<\/strong>\u00a0in this slot.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>WEEK 49:\u00a0<strong>Sons of the Starfarers Omnibus I-III<\/strong> (just in time for Christmas).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, this is all just a tentative schedule&#8211;I could definitely change it depending on which stories you guys want me most to write. \u00a0The point is that it&#8217;s doable&#8211;surprisingliy doable. \u00a0I might even break the schedule once or twice to release a surprise project, depending on how things go.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, I might need the extra writing time in order to finish my second resolution, which is:<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Write at least 2 short stories per month and submit them to traditional markets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In other words, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=8989\">Operation Short Blitz<\/a>. \u00a0Since I&#8217;ve already outlined my goals and objectives for that one, on to resolution 3:<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Read a book every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Or at least 50 books before the end of the year. \u00a0This is a recurring one that I&#8217;ve never quite been able to do, but I\u00a0<em>really<\/em> need to read more, so I figured I&#8217;d bring it back. \u00a0It&#8217;s also a good excuse to get more active on Goodreads, which I&#8217;ve been meaning to do for some time.<\/p>\n<p>Now for some non-writing related resolutions:<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Keep a detailed weekly personal journal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve kept a journal off and on since 2nd grade, but in the past few years I&#8217;ve been really lax about it. \u00a0My excuse was that the blog counts sort of as a journal, but that&#8217;s not really true, because there are things in my life that I would never want to talk about publically on this platform. \u00a0At the same time, I&#8217;m not a teenager anymore&#8211;I don&#8217;t need to keep a super secret diary stashed beneath my mattress in order to cathartically vent my hormones and thus maintain my sanity.<\/p>\n<p>So for this year, I&#8217;m going to completely redo the way I do journal writing. \u00a0Instead of free-writing, I&#8217;m going to keep it deliberately structured. \u00a0Instead of writing it only for myself, I&#8217;m going to write it for the benefit of my future kids and grandkids. \u00a0I&#8217;ll include some private stuff in there, but nothing I wouldn&#8217;t mind being read years later.<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, I still haven&#8217;t figured out exactly what I&#8217;m going to do for this goal, but I plan to at least write in it every week. \u00a0In any case, it makes for a good Sunday project&#8211;not just writing in it, but figuring out exactly where I want to go with it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Get to the point where I can run a mile ever day.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Writing is a sedentary activity, and I definitely need to get out and be more active. \u00a0My grandpa got fit and lost a lot of weight later in his life, and one of the things he told me that was key was to run a mile a day. \u00a0Currently, I can&#8217;t quite do that&#8211;I tried that about a month ago, and I pulled something on the third day that put me out for about a week. \u00a0But it&#8217;s definitely something I can work up to.<\/p>\n<p>My brother-in-law is a runner, and he advised me to start by walking. \u00a0Walk at least a mile a day for a week, then the next week walk two, then the week after that walk for most of the days but throw in a running day somewhere in there. \u00a0Gradually work up until you&#8217;re running more than walking, then soon enough you&#8217;ll be running every day.<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to do. \u00a0I&#8217;m starting out with the two-mile walks, since the one-milers are way too easy. \u00a0Maybe I&#8217;ll hike the Y a few times before I start running, just to build up muscle strength. \u00a0And when the snow melts, I&#8217;ll definitely be climbing some mountains.<\/p>\n<p>What I&#8217;d really like to do is get a treadmill desk. \u00a0Those things are expensive, though, and there isn&#8217;t much room for them where I&#8217;m currently living. \u00a0In any case, the best resolutions are the ones that don&#8217;t require a huge monetary investment or a massive shift from your current lifestyle, since those are the ones that are most likely to get done.<\/p>\n<p>And just for the heck of it, here&#8217;s a crazy impossible stretch goal:<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Finish hiking the 7 peaks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Those of you who have been following me for a while probably remember that last year, I made only one resolution, and that was to climb four of the seven peaks here in Utah county. \u00a0Well, I only got to two of them: Spanish Fork Peak and Santaquin Peak. \u00a0And guys&#8211;they were\u00a0<em>amazing!<\/em> \u00a0Real adventures. \u00a0Santaquin peak especially was just spectacular&#8211;without a doubt, the most perfect hike of my life. \u00a0But then things got busy and I never got around to hiking the other two, blah blah blah lame excuses.<\/p>\n<p>So this year, I want to revisit that goal, and since four is a lame number to stop at, I figure I&#8217;ll just shoot for all seven of them. \u00a0It&#8217;s going to be tough&#8211;Cascade Mountain is a beast, and from what I&#8217;ve heard, Lone Peak has some cliffs that are especially harrowing&#8211;but by golly, I&#8217;m going to do it!<\/p>\n<p>And if I hike Mount Timpanogos this year, maybe I&#8217;ll finally break the curse that is keeping me trapped here in Provo.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, those are my resolutions for 2014. \u00a0What are yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, I know this post is a couple of days late.\u00a0 Yesterday I was busy publishing Star Wanderers: Deliverance (Part VIII), though, and the day before that I was on the train, and today I had to renew my vehicle registration &#8230; enough! \u00a0On to the resolutions. 1. Publish something every 6 weeks. One thing&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/resolutions-and-such-for-2014\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Resolutions and such for 2014<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I am officially excited for 2014. Here are my resolutions--what are yours? http:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-2lp","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[460,779,855,857],"tags":[203,46,529,890,628,887,891,774],"class_list":["post-9015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hn","category-lifewalker","category-ssf","category-sw","tag-exercise","tag-goals-and-plans","tag-indie-publishing","tag-journal-writing","tag-mountains","tag-operation-short-blitz","tag-publishing-schedule","tag-resolutions","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-2lp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9015"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9023,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015\/revisions\/9023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}