Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Trial run, dress rehearsal, resolution


I chose not to do NaNoWriMo because I wanted to celebrate my birthday and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, without having the word count over my head. I also needed to concentrate on my WIP, a YA novel I had started three times without being able to go past a particular point.

November is now over. Its December 1st and I don't have that much to show for it. No planning, no specific goals: that was my problem.

When The Rejectionist invited her readers to do a Pre-Resolution, a mini one before embarking an a full-blown I will exercise an hour everyday and eat only raw fruits and will treat everyone with the utmost respect and work for world peace type thing on New Year's Eve, I answered the call.

Small is good. One month is doable. I am in. Here are my pre-resolutions:

  • Every weekday at 10 a.m. I will be working on my YA novel. Actual writing, no research, no brainless switching sentences and words around or other busy but useless work.

  • Every weekday at 2:30 p.m. I will be practicing piano. My solo gig in August doesn't seem that far away anymore.

  • In Tae Kwon Do, I have a midterm coming up in less than a week and a national tournament in 6 1/2 weeks and I have specific training plans I've drawn up that I will stick to.

  • I will stick to my (more reasonable, less ambitious) house cleaning plan.
You are welcome to nudge or remind or ask me questions.

12 comments:

Rachele Alpine said...

I like the idea of pre-resolutions! Good luck with your YA novel....I need to get my butt into gear and do some writing. Maybe pre-resolutions are a good idea for me too!

sarah mccarry said...

Yes! These are very Accomplishable! PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!!

Anonymous said...

good list, yes. I have yet to put mine into practice! hope you are one up on me.

Yat-Yee said...

Rachele: Thanks! And I hope you will join in with the pre-rez crowd.

Rejectionist: Were you using the Russian piano teacher voice?

Rachel: I did start today. It was very hard not to veer from just writing though.

Rebecca Gomez said...

I think these are great mini-resolutions. Looks like you aren't taking it too easy on yourself!

tanita✿davis said...

WOW. You're intense.
How does your family feel about this? Are your kids picking up your slack in the housekeeping department? ;)

Yat-Yee said...

Rebecca and Tanita: and here I was thinking that my resolutions sound thin! I'll let you know at the end of the month if I was too ambitious or not ambitious enough!

MG Higgins said...

I've started one YA in my life, got stuck on page 50, and it's been like that for four years. My middle-grade novels have always flowed with no hiccups. I'm not sure what's wrong. I go back to that novel every once in a while and fiddle with it, but no success. Good luck with your resolutions! It's a great idea to set goals.

Sherrie Petersen said...

Preresolutions? I like this concept! But house cleaning wouldn't even make it onto my list :)

lotusgirl said...

Pre-resolutions. Wow. I'm going to have to see about making me some of those.

LARCHMONT said...

Those sound like absolutely great preresolutions! And I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about the housecleaning--I think we writers are supposed to be inherently messy!

And I'm glad I learned about your tae kwon do--I'll try not to make you mad in the future. :)

Yat-Yee said...

Yeah, house-cleaning is not on top of the list of things I like to do and I am glad to see some other folks in the same boat!

Don't worry, Samuel. I'll only kick people who are wearing sparring gear!