Dear Me

Dear Me,

This year is going to be a much better year for you, I can tell even from this early date. Now it is up to you to make sure you make it be all that it can be! I know it's easy to fall into slumps, let goals slip because there's nothing really pushing you to complete them. But you really should try to stick to your guns and get some things accomplished, because it will only serve to make you feel better about yourself! This is the year to take control of your life again. The past two years were terrible. Now it's time to start succeeding again, leading the life you want to lead and making something of yourself. You are a strong woman, capable of so much, and you can reach whatever star you want to. And look - I'm defining exactly what those stars are right here! So do your part and reach them!

Complete the first draft of your first novel! -- Yep, you can do it! This is probably the biggest, most difficult goal I'm setting out for you. But you know what? You can totally do this. You wrote 50,000 words in one month. What's another 100k-150k in a whole year? Hell, if it comes down to it, if you still haven't completed this puppy by November, you'll have a whole second NaNoWriMo to help you finish it up! Seriously, I want you to have the first draft done. Honestly, I'd love for you to have the first draft done by, say, June. But this is your first year at seriously writing. Your first novel ever. I'll cut you some slack, a very little bit. This novel draft should be complete by December 31, 2014. I want you to be able to type the words THE END (which I'm hoping will soon become your favorite words ever). Along these lines, I don't want you to edit what you've written on this yet. I want it fully written before you begin seriously editing this thing, because I really do want you to finish it. Yes, you've reached a milestone with your first ever NaNo participation and win, and you learned a lot from it. And now you need to keep going with that momentum. This may mean that you need to set yourself some serious mid-year goalposts. Like, have a total of 100,000 words on your novel written by April 31, 2014. Yeah, lets go with that. Okay, here's your mid-year checkpoints:
          100,000 words written by April 31, 2014
          150,000 words written by August 31, 2014
          Novel Finished by December 31, 2014

Win NaNoWriMo 2015 -- You did it once, and now you are in the zone. Whether you are finishing up the same novel you started in 2014, or you're starting the second novel of the series, or starting a whole new book altogether, you WILL compete in NaNo 2015, and you WILL WIN. I highly suggest taking part in "October Novel Prep Challenge"  because it helped you so much last year, I'm certain it will help again in 2015.

Reviews! -- Your reviews are getting better. They really are. And I think you are starting to enjoy doing them. I want you to keep at it. The more reviews you do, the better you are at reviewing, and the more you see that can help with your own writing. I'm already noticing it making a difference for you. I'd like for you to try and do one review a week, minimum. I'm happy if you want to do more, great! But, no matter how many you might do one week, I still want you to do at least one review every week. I don't care if they are long reviews, or reviews for long items. I just want you to do One Review Per Week. Think you can do that? I KNOW you can!

Prompt Writing -- The last thing I want from you is for you to do at least 3 prompt writings this year. I know the Novel is your big goal, and that will take a lot of your focus. But there is more to bettering your writing than just drudging through a single novel. You need to expand your skills as well, as all of that will make that novel better. So you need to get out there and try some different things. This year, I want you to do some spontaneous writings that are outside of your novel. I want serious effort put into these, with some decent word counts. If you are joining a group that will have you doing several different assignments, then the full set of assignments will count as ONE of the THREE. I'm going to list the two that I know you've joined so far, so I want you to succeed at both of these, and then do at least one more later in the year. These are important. I want you to do other types of writing. You need a break from Cinra every now and again anyway. And you know what would be SUPER AWESOME? If you follow a prompt for a Competition - and actually submit your work to compete. Because you really need to get better about getting your work out there. You are a good enough writer - let your work speak for itself!
          Participate in and complete "World Weavers' Championship" 
          Participate in and complete "Invalid Item" 



Okay, that's it for 2015. It's a lot, I know. But you have all year to get through it all. And I believe in you. And so does your family. And so do your friends. You are an amazing woman, and you deserve to succeed. And all of this will get you so far down the path that you want to be going down that I trust you'll see the value of it all.

Succeed at all of this, and you can get a kitten. Maybe. Grin.


With lots of love and hugs,
Me

Word Count: 9893/i}