Ready or not, here comes 2015!

No! I'm not ready! I need more 2014...

2013 saw me get a new dog, a new agent, a new book contract, and new employers.

 A year later, the dog and agent are still awesome, the book contract has been signed and the first draft of the book written, and I found a new employer - myself.  From the outside looking in, I'd say things are about the same but I do believe I'm moving forward. Eventually the steps I've taken should lead me closer to where I want to be.

Some of the steps even appear to be backward but, as a dancer, I know you have to do a lot of sidesteps and pivots if you want to cross the stage. Simply walking from one end to the other is boring!

I feel like I'm slowly stripping away the things that don't make me happy. I've tried to disengage myself from people and situations that don't benefit me intellectually or creatively or spiritually.

And so, I hereby declare 2015 to be the Year of Less.

Less stress.

Less pain.

Less stuff.

The late comedian George Carlin used to do a very funny bit about having "stuff."

The message being that stuff, whether it's yours or mine, tends to rule our lives. But why should it?

Excess baggage, both literal and figurative, weighs us down and causes us to take jobs or spend time with people that we really shouldn't. And this baggage compounds itself: the more time we spend on things and people we don't respect, the more we resent those people and things. And truly, it's our own fault for making those choices in the first place. If we didn't have a shopping/videogame/drug habit that needed to be funded, we wouldn't need to do things that ate at our souls.

So in 2015, I want to be LESS. Less vulnerable to bad decisions. Less aggravated by people and situations that are out of my control. Less dependent on anyone but myself for happiness and financial stability.

Happy holidays and have a blessed and Be Less year!

Is 2014 the Year of the Reasonable Resolution?

Let's be honest: 2013 was a terrible year! We should have known it would be since there was a 13 staring us in the face every single day. How could that possibly be a good thing for anyone?

I won't go into details about all the obstacles and challenges of my year. You have your own. And if you don't, then you probably know someone who does. Around me were divorces, job losses, deaths, and health problems. Friends, neighbors, and students all went through many trials of the spirit and body. It was hard to be sympathetic when you had your own problems to deal with.

Which is not to say there weren't a few bright spots and this is where I'm going to start with my "reasonable" resolutions:

 - in 2013 I got a dog whom the shelter named Peaches. She's a chihuahua-terrier-something mix, perhaps 8 years old, with an utterly unknown history. I love her so much and am so happy she's in my life, even if she does hate other dogs. In 2014, we'll work on that, one pup at a time.

 - in 2013, I got a new literary agent and finished a couple of books. In 2014, I'll have product and a means to get it out there into the world (that's far more reasonable than resolving to sell a book!).

 - in 2013, I discovered kale, my new favorite vegetable, and I rediscovered my love of Brussels sprouts. In 2014, I want to try quinoa.

For 2014, I've got plans - big ones like moving and shooting a short film and starting a new business - but those are hardly "reasonable" and nothing that can be "resolved" to be done. Taking steps to accomplish them will be my next challenge.

Happy 2014~

My only New Year's resolution

Fear nothing.

Until recently, most of my life has been dictated by the phrase, "Why not?" I've moved, changed colleges, explored new careers, taken and quit all kinds of jobs based on my lack of fear of change. Why not go to grad school?  Why not work in the film business?  Why not move to Los Angeles?  Sure, why not?

But lately, I have been struck with a bad case of the Fears.  I have been fearing change when it comes to my living space, the subjects and style of my writing, and the "freelance" part of my freelance career. Let's examine a few of my Fears, shall we?

I've wanted an outdoor space for just about ever but I've worried that the new place won't be as good or as cheap as what we have (the devil you know, as they say).  

I've wanted a dog for just as long but I've worried that I won't have time for one.  

I've wanted to try writing different types of stories but I've worried that I can't possibly write as well as my heroes.

I've wanted to re-arrange my teaching schedule but I've worried that my students will leave.

I can continue on for another year like this, in comfortable mediocrity, or I can bust out and get back to my roots of "Why not?" I always ask my dance students, "What's the worst that could happen if you try a step or a combination this way?" You fail? Okay, so try again. But the best that could happen would be you succeed and then you can move forward and do more things.

I really need to take my own advice: stop overanalyzing everything and just do something.  Take *a* step.  Any step in any direction.  It will be far better than being stuck in one place forever and ever. But the biggest reason to stop fearing change?  No one cares.  Let's examine that again, shall we?

NO ONE CARES.  Seriously, people care about themselves and their own families and their own lives.  They don't care about you - about me.  I don't mean this in a negative way.  I mean this in a practical way.  No one can possibly care about my life and what I do with it the way I can.  So if I try something and I fail at it, what's the big deal?  It's more likely that no one will even notice.  And that's a very freeing way to approach change. I can proclaim to the world, Hey, World! I'm gonna do XY and Z! And the world (i.e. friends and family and Facebookers) will respond with a, "Go for it!" And they'll click Like and then they move on. Because that's what people do.  They move on to the next story.  They won't even remember I told them I was doing XY and Z until I do it and tell them I did it.

So you see...No One Cares. But me. And if I'm only doing things to impress myself, then why the hell would I want to do Nothing?  Heck no.  I want to do Something and if it fails, then I'll do Something Else.

Fear Nothing. Happy 2013.

In 2012, I resolve to...

1. Self-publish my entire backlist as e-books across all platforms.  Also make them available in print editions.

Reason: I need to wipe the slate (i.e. my hard drive) clean of old titles. Whether people read them is not up to me but at least all of them will be out there and available to be enjoyed.

2. Write the books I want to read.

Reason: I fell in love with reading when I was a teen and I devoured all genres, including fantasy and science fiction.  I have always loved spec fiction too.  When I write for others - for the marketplace - I get stuck because I'm not excited to find out more.  Then I'm trudging through it rather than racing through it.


3. Write the books I've always wanted to write.

Reason: It takes a very long time to write a novel - and to rewrite it and rewrite it until it's ready for others.  I am tired of wasting my precious writing time on books that mean nothing to me, that may have a fun premise but are nothing more.

4. Read more of what I love.

Reason: As a YA writer, I tend to read what I should read, what's popular among my audience. While it's important to know what sells, those books shouldn't be my sole literary consumption.  And now that I have a Kindle, it's easier than ever before to get what I need.

5. Organize my social media more efficiently.

Reason: Again, time is a precious resource.  I need to streamline what I do and when I do it.  Toward that end, I stopped using MySpace altogether and I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  I also have to set specific times of when I'm online - it's eating up my day!

How did that resolve work for ya?

At the beginning of the year, back when we all had optimism we could make resolutions and stick to them THIS TIME! I made what I thought were relatively easy-to-accomplish ones. Six months into 2009, how did I do?

1. I resolve to shake out the laundry before putting it in the dryer.

UPDATE: Nope. I still never do this. Must be a genetic anomaly.

2. I resolve to have one less cup of coffee in the morning - and one more in the late afternoon.

UPDATE: Nope. I think I actually added a cup to the morning and took away one from the late afternoon - and then added another one at night before bed.

3. I resolve to use the gift certificates people gave me last year.

UPDATE: Nada. Those gift certificates are still unused AND I added two more: another spa and Target.

4. I resolve to put away the Christmas lights before the end of January.

UPDATE: Complete. Whoo-hoo! Still have my Memorial Day candles up, though, and since they're flag candles, I think I'll keep them for July 4th too.

5. I resolve to use lists more often and to number all the things I need to do.

UPDATE: Kinda yes but I only go up to the number 4.

6. I resolve to keep my cell phone and iPod charged.

UPDATE: Cell phone yes, iPod - sadly - no.

Wow. Those were perhaps the easiest frakkin' resolutions I have ever made for myself and I STILL couldn't handle them. How did you all do?

Random Thoughts on a Friday

6 Realistic Resolutions

Oh, every year starts out with the best of intentions, n'est-ce pas? We resolve to lose 10 pounds, to exercise every day, to save more money, to use our high school French...and by February, according to most experts*, 60% of us fail.

My question: why torture yourself needlessly?

My solution: choose very easy resolutions. That way, you're guaranteed to succeed!

Here are some of mine for 2009:

1. I resolve to shake out the laundry before putting it in the dryer. This is a corollary to last year's resolution to separate lights from darks but I failed miserably on that one. This should be a lot easier. Should be.

2. I resolve to have one less cup of coffee in the morning - and one more in the late afternoon. Rather than cutting out caffeine altogether, which is both painful and unneccesary, I'm going to shift it around a little so I'm a little less manic in the morning and a little more peppy in the afternoon.

3. I resolve to use the gift certificates people gave me last year. I have an envelope filled with these things - movie passes, a massage, 10 bucks off a Fruit-of-the-month club - and I still haven't used them. That's like passing up free money! I'd be stupid not to use them.

4. I resolve to put away the Christmas lights before the end of January. Or at least to bug HH until he takes them dowh.

5. I resolve to use lists more often and to number all the things I need to do, since clearly I function better when things are in a numerical sequence.

6. I resolve to keep my cell phone and iPod charged. (Yeah, good luck with that one, Leigh.)

There. That ought to do it. Anyone want to add to this list?



*okay, according to just one article I read on Yahoo news...