New Year, New Resolve, New Horizons

Happy New Year, everyone!

I've decided to set some goals for my writing for 2010. I say goals instead of 'resolutions' because those things never pan out for me. They are usually forgotten by Valentine's Day. So far:



Fiction
* I will complete my first draft of "Call the Four Corners" by Jan. 31st.
* I will start the 2nd draft of "Cast the Circle Widdershins" on Feb. 1st. Completion date is 5/31.
* I will start the 2nd draft of CT4C on 6/1. Completion date is 10/1. This will give me time to prepare for the 2010 Muse Online Writer's Conference that begins on 10/17. (Check the link, I'm listed on the site as a promoter! Thanks, Lea!) I also will work on the story arc for The Willowvale Chronicles series in preparation for another year of insanity otherwise known as NaNoWriMo in November.
* Complete 1st draft of Book Three of The Willowvale Chronicles in November. The title of this one is "Guardians of the Watchtowers."

And if that's not enough, I also plan to take my freelance life to a new level. I haven't done any freelancing since I got sick in Oct. 2008, and at that time I only published a few articles online, and that was just to see if I could. I'd never done any kind of non-fiction before. But at least I took a good long swim in the Fiction Pool from then until now. And I'm not getting out anytime soon.

But I've got to get serious about freelancing. It's looking more and more like freelancing will eventually be my full-time job due to my health. I will still be writing fiction, just in what spare time I have left. But I will make time to work on The Willowvale Chronicle series. While I have made vast improvements since going gluten-free, I still have a long way to go. And I have come to the stark realization that I might never fully recover to the point where I was in May 2008. Sorry to be so depressing, but I've got to face that reality and plan accordingly. It gets reinforced in my mind every night at work that I won't be able to do my job much longer due to chronic fatigue. I have to stop and rest after climbing only 16 stairs. And after doing that repeatedly for 8 hours a night, I'm completely exhausted and in a lot of pain by the time I get home. Making a living exclusively from writing has always been my dream, and I plan on making that dream a reality in 2010.

So here goes:

Freelancing:
eHow
* 100 articles in 2010. Yeah, yeah. I know that sounds like a lot, but it's only two articles/week.

Suite101
* Apply to write for this site.

HubPages
* 100 hubs in 2010. Two hubs/week.

Demand Studios
* Apply to write for this site. I've heard the pay isn't so great, but I can make quick $ here.

Examiner: Huntsville
* Apply to this site and pray I get accepted. This would be freaking awesome for my resume.

I have some other sites I will apply to and post a few articles and see what happens. Most of them don't pay as well as the sites listed above, but they are good sites for beginning freelancer to start with. They include:

Associated Content: This is a money-maker. I'm going to shake it, shake it good.
Bukisa: Looks good.
ConstantContent: Another money-maker.
Elance: This looks interesting.
Helium: I've been a member here for a while now, just got sick and didn't post any articles. That will change this year.
Life123: Just joined this site. Will post articles.
Qondio: Been a member here also. Will post articles here.
Orato: Possibilities.
Red Room: I will be posting articles here once I get a few more freelancing credits under my belt.
Squidoo: Been here a while also. Will make lenses in 2010.
Triond: I'll be trying this one out.
Xomba: Already joined, will post articles on this site in 2010.

Well, as you can see, I've done my homework as far as finding out where to write. And I've set some goals that are attainable. Now I've just got to get it done. So the motto for 2010 is:

Write. Now. As if my life depends on it. Because the reality is that it does.