Twenty Ten

Yes, folks, it's almost the new year. Can you believe it? I certainly can't. But I thought I'd get a short post in while I was thinking about it.

I read Maggie Stiefvater's newest post about Resolutions...and while I have a few general ones for the new year, I was wondering what everyone else had for theirs so far? Are any of you anti-setting goals? Do you set them every year? And print them out? Laminate them? Check them off?

This year, I think I will print mine off...once I come up with them :)

Here's what I have so far:
1. Stop biting my nails
2. Lose some weight (leaving specifics off for now)
3. Finish my current WIP
4. Write and submit more short stories (# unspecified as of yet)

Graduate Record Exam

Have you ever had a goal that meant a lot to you? One that maybe you didn't accomplish? Well, today I took the GREs. I felt great on Thursday, on top of the world. Yesterday, I was a mess. Worried, scared, fighting anxiety. Today I felt good. I slept well, I ate well, I pampered myself some. Then I went to the testing center and started my test.

I took less time than each section needed (although math was cutting it very very close). I didn't take a break in between sections, not because I'm stupid, but because I was on a roll. I was focused and I was ready to move on. I thought I did okay. I knew I wasn't going to be brilliant based on the questions. I just didn't know some of the words. But I trucked through and got to the end. I decided to submit my scores and got to see them. They were average. I did way better on math than I had previously on practice tests, but verbal wasn't nearly as good as I hoped. My scores: 550 on verbal. 570-580 on math. (The range for math is because I can't honestly remember which one I got. I was so focused on the verbal). In the next few weeks I'll get my writing portion score (I'm not expecting anything fantastic). So, that's that.

Two months of work, thinking and wishing for 600 on each, and I didn't quite make it. Not enough to pay another $150 to retake and study and stress. So, I'm just going to accept those numbers and move on. Hopefully none of the schools will care if my tests are average (as long as my creative writing is not).

New Times, New Goals

It has been quite a while since I was last on blogger, even more so since I've written an blog entry. Almost two months! I've done lots since then. I went on vacation to Hawaii and had a blast (I wish I could live there) and I've accomplished more decorating at home and organization at work. There have been some ups and downs with my boyfriend, but that's not what this blog is about, is it?

I have decided that I will try to post an entry three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Because this hardly seems like something that interesting to readers, I have something else that may interest you, my lovely readers:

Are there any of you out there that write plays (short or full-length)? My alma mater UMBC holds a 10 minute play contest and I decided to enter it. I thought it would be a good idea to share with anyone here. While the deadline is September 1st (post-marked), there are also other competitions that are open for the same sorts of plays.

Speaking of other art forms, I'm curious, who out there writes more than just one subject/genre, forms? Are there writers who write both poetry and fiction? Young adult and Adult? Nonfiction and Fiction?

Goals

So I decided that I was going to set a goal for myself. It seemed to really spur me on during NaNoWriMo. I reached 50,000 words in a month, but since then have done very little with the manuscript. Until today. I decided I wanted to reach 75,000 (or the end) by the end of this month. I calculated it, and if I started tomorrow, I would have to write 1,191 words a day. Assuming I started at 50k. But I didn't start at 50, I was somewhere closer to 53, which gives me a few days leeway, just in case. Well, tonight I wrote even more and now am close to 54,500. Already ahead. Not only does that make me happy, but it makes me want to write more. I'll worry about if it's good once it's done. And since it's the sequel to the one I'm querying now, who knows if it will even see the light of day. Book one has to sell first, right?

Well, it's getting late and I'm actually feeling pretty good about myself right now, so I'm going to call it a night. Happy Writing!