Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year, New Goals

Happy 2011! We just got back from two weeks in Montana yesterday, so I'm a little behind on my resolutions, but at least I know what they are :) And now that I'm mostly unpacked, I'm feeling pretty good about things.
Not the book, but other things.
A quick book update: two rejections while I was gone, bringing the total to 11 rejections and 6 no responses, with 1 outstanding partial and 1 outstanding full. Both of those agents said they will try to get back to me as soon as possible (since it's been quite a while since I've heard from either of them) but who knows when that will be. In the meantime, I've come up with a few more ideas for the new book, and I'm going to be compiling a list of 25 more agents so I can start querying in a few weeks. I want to wait till around February to start, given that this tends to be a busy time of year for agents (and clearly sending out queries in November wasn't the best idea ever, since that batch of queries has yet to yield a single positive response).
Montana was good and bad, as I should have expected it to be. We arrived VERY late Sunday night, and John woke to the stomach flu (picked up at a birthday party on Saturday) on Monday morning. Tuesday he felt a little better and we were able to head to the national forest and cut down our tree, Custer, who was a little sparse according to some reports, but quite adorable if you ask John or me. On Wednesday morning I got the stomach flu, and I felt like I was going to die. My parents arrived Wednesday night, followed by Sarah on Thursday night. Friday was Christmas Eve, Saturday was Christmas, and Sunday was an open house that my mom threw for the people who helped with the house renovation. On Monday we could all finally breathe again.
Except that I had a cold. And on Sunday I poked myself in the eye with my hair brush so hard I thought my eye was permanently damaged. I was in horrible pain for 2 days before it finally got better. And the cold is STILL hanging around!
So aside from my health issues, it was nice to see my parents and I think they enjoyed spending time with Jack. Sarah and I had a HORRIBLE fight on Friday in which I said some things I am not entirely proud of, but we seem to have moved past it at least. We had a great time on Wednesday sledding in the national forest, and on Thursday John and I finally got to go out to dinner together, which was nice. Jack's sleeping left something to be desired, so the trip wasn't restful, exactly, but I'm glad we went.
I'm also very glad to be home.
So, now that I'm back and 2011 is well under way, I think it's time to list my goals so I have something to keep me in check during the coming months. Here is my 2011 list of resolutions:
1) Get an agent (not really something I have control over, but it will remain my #1 life goal until I have one)
2) Write book #5, completing an average of 20 pages per week
3) Run 20 miles per week (a good base for helping John with his 100 miler in June)
4) Worry less about the future (including money and things I have no control over, except getting an agent - see #1)
5) Try to be a better wife and mother (more patience, less squabbling, etc)
6) Send out 25 more query letters by mid-February (unless I get an agent before then, natch)
7) Be more organized at home (I'm going to Target this week to get the proper supplies)
8) Be the person I want to be; Live the life I want to live (if I don't like something, I'm going to fix it. If it can't be fixed, I'm movin' on!).

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but this is a good start. Some of these things are obviously more tangible than others, which is nice, since I do love to cross things off of lists! The running and writing will have to start tomorrow, unfortunately, since I'm still getting organized from the trip. And I may need to do some more research before I can really start "writing" the next book (BDC, as I'll refer to it from now on). I really want 2011 to be a good year. I've survived the first year of motherhood, and now it's time to get a better handle on things. I feel like I've been sort of disorganized and now I need to put things in order. Speaking of which, I have photos to download and a child who wants a snack, so I'm off.
Happy New Year!

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