New Year's Resolutions

Yep, it's that time again.

You know, the time where you suddenly look up and there's a whole new year ready to hit you in the face like a gigantic cream pie ... and you still haven't gotten the remains of last year's cream pie out of your hair yet.

Writing-wise, I think I have made some forward progress this year. At least I'm getting better at recognizing bad writing when I commit it, though in some cases it still doesn't stop me from doing it anyway. (Write now, edit later, right?)

I've had my work critiqued by more different people than since my creative writing class back in college. That's helped me see where some of my weaknesses are as a writer, and it's been very helpful. It's also been somewhat demoralizing on occasion, because it points out just how far I still have to go. But as long as I keep making progress in a forward direction, I'll count it as a win.

I've bought myself a domain name and am in the process of creating a web site. Talk about your exercises in creative writing! It doesn't help that I have to do at least part of this in an unfamiliar language. (I'm really learning to hate CSS, by the way...)

I'm part of this group here on The Melt-Ink Pot, and I've been trying to post at least something every Thursday (although this week and last week have been challenging, since, well, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, y'know...). This is a great group of friends, and I'm hoping for good things for all of us in the coming year.

So for 2010 ... here's what I'm hoping to do:

• Finish revisions to Phoebe and the Damned Strumpet (formerly "The Vedia Gamble") and send out the necessary summaries, query letters, etc. to some agents.
• Finish the current WIP, The Daughters of August Winterbourne. Try to bring it in under 200,000 words, so I only have to cut out half of it during editing. {sigh}
• Either write or edit at least a little bit every day (Except January 2.) Remember that it's easier to keep momentum going than to have to start it rolling again.
• Continue posting here, with the rest of the ladies.
• Finish and post web site (by the end of January, preferably).
• Give more (preferably daily) updates on my writing progress. I started out well with that, but have faltered recently -- mostly because I've felt I'd rather spend the time writing than blogging about it. However, the daily updates help me feel as though I'm making progress, so if that's what it takes, I'll do it.
• Network more with other writers and aspiring writers. This is not an easy thing to do, because while I can be very articulate on the page, when it comes to carrying on coherent face-to-face conversations -- especially with "the cool people" -- my tongue swells to about three times its normal size, my lips turn to wood and my brain freezes up worse than if I drink a Slurpee too fast. But I'll try. Initial forays into these waters seems to indicate that the species authorius americanus is generally friendly, if somewhat intimidating.
• Read more, especially new books. Right now, I've been doing a lot of re-reading, mostly because the majority of our books are still in storage, waiting to be unpacked. Which has to wait on painting, which is waiting on warmer weather... But there's still the library, and borrowing from friends, and a couple of Barnes & Noble gift cards that I've been carrying around unspent for far too long.

I think that's enough to go on with for now.

What resolutions related to writing are other people making this year?