happy 2012!

1 January 2012. Today is the first day of a brand new year. 2011 was full of changes for my little family, and I can only imagine what is in store for us for 2012. Since today is a day for resolutions, I'm going to make some writing resolutions. The first is a 100% finished date for SoT. That is 12:01 am, January 23rd. Why? Because I'm going to submit my story for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. They have two categories (General Fiction and Young Adult Fiction), and right now I'm trying to figure out which to submit to--Fantasy doesn't tend to do well in contests with General Fiction, but I would have to make some changes to get it to work as Young Adult Fiction. Mainly, I'm just wanting to use this contest as a deadline for myself so I'll finally put the finishing touches (haha! I imagine I'll edit this story in my mind for years to come!) on this story so I can feel comfortable moving on to the next one. That brings me to my second resolution, about my new story. This one is another idea I've had stewing in my mind for years now and it's quite a bit different from SoT. Still in the fantasy genre, but think more along the lines of elves and dwarves (though neither one appears in my story). So, for the resolution: I will finish the planning and start writing the actual story. That may not sound like much of a resolution, but after what basically amounts to a 6-year planning stage, believe me--it will be a challenge. A third resolution: I will submit SoT wherever I may have a chance of catching somebody's attention. I'm not going to be passive about this (though that is definitely my natural inclination) because the writing world isn't a place for timidity. If I want to get my writing out there for people to read, I can't just sit back and expect it to happen. It's time to actually pursue my dreams. So, there are personal resolutions to go along with these, but they are completely different and aren't going to make their way onto a blog. Trust me when I say, though, that 2012 is going to be a year of changes! Have a wonderful, adventure-filled 2012!