2024 Resolutions

2023 Part Two

In the spirit of my 2022 and 2023 resolutions:

Every year I like taking on a few big plans for the year. These work pretty well and I accomplish at least one big thing each year (became a programmer, wrote my novella, wrote 100 stories, wrote my novel draft). This year, I have a singular goal:

Finish my novel!!

In 2023 I wrote the first draft. I am going to spend 2024 editing it. By the end of the year, I want it to be finished and excellent. "1. Skeletal first draft; 2. Lots of revisions" is how I wrote a novella two years ago, and it went great, so I have faith that this will work!

Once it's the best it can be, I’ll start submitting it to publishers.

To do this successfully, I have some sub-goals.

i. Read a lot

I think to be a great writer, you need to read excessively -- but I only read a few novels in 2023! I should have done this before writing the first draft, but better late than never. I'm going to make the time for reading, which will require putting up barriers to social media, and most importantly:

ii. No online chess

Chess is a time-suck, frustrating when I lose, and is dangerously easy to start playing. I've cut back on how much I play, but I know I need to cut it out entirely if I want reading to become my "default" action in leisure. 

There are some exceptions: I'll play games with friends if they request it, and if I'm somewhere with a chess board, it's fine for me to sit and play. That's fun and social! But no mindless online chess.

Other Plans For The Year

• I'm going to be a bit more sincere about important things. A friend told me a few months ago that she has trouble parsing when I'm joking or serious. I think this is not ideal! I do believe some things sincerely and strongly, and it's probably bad if that gets muddied in the service of making friends laugh (usually a very important venture). No more! 

• I’ll be posting fewer stories here. I’ll make up for it a little by doing reviews of the books I read! And if you want more stories besides the ones here, I have a collection of links on my old blog.

• I’m going to release more music with Peter Sanfilippo. We have a lot of fun making music, and I’m so stoked about how we’re levelling up as musicians. 

You

I hope that you have resolutions that excite you, that you find the way to make them happen, and that you have a year of happy surprises. If you have resolutions, let me know about them, and if you bump into me this year, tell me how they’re going!