Seven More Years

I Guess We'll Call This A Warm-Up Lap...

I thought I would do a quick status update as I haven’t posted anything in a few days.  Things have been pretty quiet with my goals, so there just hasn't been much to post.  That sort of makes me wonder if I am simply not pushing things hard enough.  I am about a month into this thing, and as I look back, it just really feels like a slow start to everything I am trying to do.  The fact that I've done nothing of note over the past three days is sort of telling.

Looking back, it feels like January was a "warm-up" month, even if I didn't quite plan it that way.  Going forward, if I want to stay on track with my goals, I think I am going to start putting in a lot more effort.  I am hoping that this week, I can push myself more and get things moving at  a speed I am happier with.

Anyway, here's an overview of where I am:

Writing:
Still no word back on the remainder of the query letters I sent out last week.  That's actually not surprising.  It's usually a few weeks before you hear back on a query letter, if you ever do (some agents tend to only respond if they are interested).  So I'll keep an eye on my inbox for the next few weeks, but otherwise try to forget about them.

I've also read through about half of my new novel so far.  I am hoping to get through the rest of it by the end of this weekend so I can start rewriting on Monday.  I hate to jinx myself or speak too soon, but (so far) this new book is far and away the best thing I have ever written.  It's crazy how excited I am about this story, and I cannot wait to get it all polished and ready for some test reads.  I still have a lot of work to do, but for a first draft, I think it is really strong.

Fitness:
It was sort of a bad ending to a good week fitness-wise.  I ended up at the gym three days this week, which I thought was pretty good.  Friday I covered 2.3 miles in 30 minutes--that was pretty rough, but I pushed it.  Unfortunately the end result was a gain of 1.5 pounds for the week.  I think most of that is due to my bachelor weekend snacking last weekend and a poor finish (eating-wise) this week.  It sucks to put in such an effort on one end, only to drop the ball on the other.  Hopefully this disappointment keeps me on track for next week.

Music:
Nothing really going on here.  I've got the studio all setup, but other than one session of working through our old set list solo (wow, can you say a bit rusty?), I haven't been down there.  I am hoping to get Kim down into the studio at some point soon so we can start tuning up the old songs.  Eventually, I'd like to get a weekly practice going....but one step at a time.

Well, that's where I am after one month.  Here's hoping February proves a lot more productive.

Brief Explanation of Focus Areas

For those reading this who don't know me well, I thought I'd briefly go over the focus areas from my list of goals. 

Writing
The main focus of my life is fiction writing.  I've been working seriously on the craft for about eight years, and I recently finished the first draft of my second novel last summer.  At one point in my life, my goal was to be published by my thirtieth birthday.  That's deadline has come and gone (and been replaced with an "unofficial" goal of my thirty-fifth birthday).

Goals in this area concern actual writing (that is getting behind a keyboard or in front of a printout with red pen in hand), tasks aimed at making me a better writer, branching out into the writing community (I'm sort of tired of going to writing conferences and not knowing anyone), and reading.

(Oh, and just in case you don't find my obscure references charming, the "20 Plus Book Club" goal refers to a policy they had at my middle school.  Each year, every student was encouraged to read at least twenty books and do a book report on each.  Every kid who did that got his or her name on a shiny gold plaque above the main office.  While I read well over 20 books each year--I did nothing but read in the dark ages before cable--doing more than the required four book reports a year was unthinkable to my pre-teen self.  Never making it to that plaque is a major regret I'd like to correct this year.)

Fitness
Bottom line, I am overweight...and I need to be not overweight.  This mainly involves eating fewer cookies, drinking less soda, and going to the gym once in a while.  I could go into further detail, but really--with apologies to Jillian Michaels--that's all there is to it.

Goals in this area include both fitness (that is, getting off the couch and doing some physical activity on a regular basis) and eating far less (with apologies to the fine folks at New England Pizza). 

Music
I should make it clear that unlike writing, music is a hobby for me.  I don't plan to make a living (or earn any money, really) by playing my guitar someday.  Nor do I lie awake at night obsessing over chord progressions and song lyrics (like I do plot and character arcs).  Still, even if just a hobby, music (especially playing in a band with people I really like) is very important to me.  And I get the distinct impression that if I don't start spending some time on it again soon, the day may come where I realize that I've held my guitar for the last time.

My musical ambitions (and goals in this area) are very simple.  I want to "play out" just once before I die.  I am talking about a small bar, packed with a dozen of my friends who came to enthusiastically cheer me on.  No record contracts, no paying customers, no groupies--just half a dozen acoustic covers followed by nachos.  Okay...maybe one groupie.

A (Somewhat) Dynamic List of My Near-Term Goals

Below are the goals I am currently working towards along with the status of each.  I plan to adjust this list as different goals are met and as new goals emerge.  This will be a good place to check if you'd like to see a snapshot of how I am doing. 

Writing Goals:

1.  Rewrite new novel (due date: 04/01/09)  DONE!

[Status: 38 of 38 chapters rewritten/edited]

2.  Do the 20 plus book club (due date: 12/31/09)

[Status: 0 of 20 completed]

3.  Submit Atimus 15 more times (due date: 05/28/09) CANCELED

[Status: 7 of 15 submissions sent]

4.  Enter at least four short story contests (due date: 12/31/09)

[Status: 0 of 4 stories submitted]

5.  Post on Backspace at least three times a week (continuous goal)

[Status: N/A]

6.  Submit The Tynassis Stone 20 times (due date: 12/31/09)

[Status: 0 of 20 submissions sent]

Fitness Goals:

7.  Lose 30 pounds (due date: 09/01/09) NOTE--Goal Reset June 2009

[Status: Currently down 7 lbs from starting weight]

8.  Hit the gym at least four times a week (continuous goal)

[Status: N/A]

9.  Climb Mt. Washington (due date: 09/15/09)

[Status: 0/1 summits achieved]

Music Goals:

10.  Learn eight new songs at "A" level (due date: 10/01/09)

[Status: 1/8 songs ready for the show]

11.  Play an open mic night (due date: 11/10/09)

[Status: 0/1 shows played]

What Is This All About?

All right, so here is the deal: about a month and a half ago (as I write this now) I turned thirty-three.  This sort of puts me over the line--in my mind--from being a guy "just barely into his thirties" into a full fledged "thirty-something."  Scary, huh?

I'll forgo the 1,500 words of self-indulgent navel gazing I wrote up talking about why I want to do this, and just get right to the point (that's a theme I think you'll see most of the time here).  Basically, I have seven more years until I turn forty.  Seven more years until I am officially middle-aged.  Seven more years of still being young enough to chase my dreams and earn my place in the world.

When you think about it, there are two kinds of forty-year-olds out there.  On one hand you have the sad, pudgy guys who play poker with their friends on Friday nights, sadly ogle girls half their age, and retell old high school football stories ad nauseum.  And on the other, you have the guys who look good in fitted t-shirts, mountain bike on the weekends, and enjoy the kind of success that make the rest of us wonder what the big secret is.

The way I figure it there are exactly two ways I can spend November 10th, 2015:

1.  Commiserating with friends (over an expensive bottle of Scotch) about all the forgotten things I had planned to do in my life; or

2.  Celebrating a major milestone birthday with my friends (over an expensive bottle of Scotch) and looking back on the past several years of accomplishment and success.

And while either way I end up drinking some pretty fine Scotch, I'd like to take door number two if I can in any way help it.

So that's what this site is all about.  It's a place to chronicle my efforts, stay focused, and keep myself honest.  To get where I need to be seven years from now, I have a number of specific areas I need to work on, and for each of these, some short and long term goals.  I'll keep a somewhat dynamic list of my near term goals, along with my current status on each (check the sidebar), and each day I'll comment on my progress on them. 

I plan to keep this place an honest-to-goodness, unapologetic blog.  I am going to try to write in here every day, and I expect my entries to be more style than substance and, at times, a little more raw that I would feel appropriate for my main blog.  This is sort of an experiment in progress, so bear with me as we go.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment or suggest away on anything I put up here.