Dear Me

Dear Me,

2010 is going to be a big year for you! I’m not exaggerating; hear me out. 2009 was a year of discovery for finding WDC and finding the motivation to write. 2009 was also the year you wrote more than you had ever written before. 2010 is going to be the year that you continue to write as well as move towards getting your work published.

You have three big writing projects this year:
Your NaNoWriMo novel from last November
The erotica anthology project with SoCalScribe
Your secret Project S.

I’m sure you’ll also write for various contests along the way. As for non-writing endeavors, don’t forget about your new hobby – collecting Lego Castles. There are also your goals for building your family, which may or may not happen this year.


Love is Elemental, a NaNoWriMo novel
You didn’t think you could do it, did you? But you did! You wrote 54,366 words in 25 days. Stop for a moment and congratulate yourself – you never do that enough. Keep thinking about it… a few moments more…

Okay! Now, it’s time to move forward. You have quite the ambitious goal of self-publishing your novel through CreateSpace.com by December. To do that you need to keep to a revising schedule. Tentatively you’ve set to work on a scene a week with your husband Will. You’ll need to remain flexible as that may be too much or too little, depending upon what is happening in real life.

Yes, you need to remember to eat, sleep, go to work and spend time with Will, family and friends. You alienated enough people in November; you don’t need to do it all year long. You need to find a balance between writing (and this includes all your projects) and living.

Just try to make it to your first goal of having a readable, reviewable draft by spring. You can post it up on WDC for response. See about joining a novel reviewing group ahead of time so you can establish yourself in the group before putting your novel up for review. Don’t forget that one of your coworkers said that she and some of her reading group would be willing to review your draft at this point.

Don’t make any concrete plans for later until you get to this stage and get feedback. You may find that your goals need to be pushed back as more revising needs to be done. If you don’t get it published this year, it’s not the end of the world. You’ve never done this before so you don’t really know how long it will take, but you need to give it all the time it needs or else you’re going to have a shoddy product that no one will want to read.

Okay, that’s enough, Negativity. Shame on you. This is a letter to motivate, not discourage. Take a seat… Good.

Let’s move onto the next project and see what excitement is in store for you.


Erotica Anthology Project
You get great ideas, sometimes, and this is one of them. Even better is that you realized that you can’t do it on your own. Smart girl. You asked the person you knew had more experience and it turned out to be the right move. SoCalScribe is going to lead the project with you being second in command.

You’re still going to have a lot to do with helping to organize and edit the project, but you don’t have the head for the logistics of financing and dealing with royalties. A lot hasn’t been decided on this project, so you’re going to need to buckle down in the next few months to get it figured out with SoCalScribe . You both want quality work to publish and finding it will be challenging.

But you can do it, and it’s going to be quite an adventure!


Project S
I hesitate to bring this up since it is supposed to be a secret project and I don’t know who else will be reading this letter. However, I need to point out that you have set yourself up for possible failure if you don’t remain flexible. I know, Negativity is butting in again, but you do need to do a lot of research and you have to be careful how you do it so they don’t find out.

You’re going to need to get going on writing, at least 2 aspects a month, if not more. This will be difficult to do with your other projects, but if this is something you really want to do then you have to make time for it.

Also, if you can’t solve the issue--you know the one I’m talking about--then don’t worry about it right now. Try to accomplish it later as it is something you can do next year. It isn’t a key component of getting this project finished this year.

Remember to find trustworthy associates to help you with the project. Pick people you know can keep this a secret. Make your list and get your communications written ahead of time so you’re ready to go when you need help. I suggest having half of the aspects done before calling on others. There’s no sense asking people for help when there isn’t anything for them to do.

If you can pull this off, they are going to very surprised and very pleased. Don’t let Negativity tell you otherwise – they will like it.


Other Writing
I know you--you’re going to want to do a contest here and there. That’s fine, and good to keep your creativity and spontaneity up. Just remember to put your other three goals first and if you don’t finish that contest entry, don’t beat yourself up. It’s not the most important thing in the larger scheme of things.

On the other hand, if you’re stumped with your main projects, look for a contest to write for. Take breaks; you need them to recharge your batteries.


Brickmania!
Now, 2010 isn’t just going to be about writing. It’s going to be a Lego-tastic year! Castle Legos to be specific. You and Will decided in December to start a Castle collection. You need to remember to space out your buying. As with your writing, real life has to fit in there somewhere and that includes having money to pay bills and buy food.

You’ve already learned some valuable lessons on buying partial sets. Remember that $11 flag that was only released in that set, but was missing from the one you bought. Be careful when the auction says 90% complete and it turns out that the missing pieces are mini-figures, another expensive flag and the special baseplate. Your cost may be spread out over time, but in the end, you’ll pay more.

Again, enough Negativity. Take your seat again. Life is a learning process and this is no different.

Onto the fun stuff like the rumors that new Castle sets will come out this year that will include Elves! Dwarves and Trolls rocked, but this will be even better.

Also, you have a lot of planning and saving to do if you and Will are going to Legoland for your Anniversary in October. Though it will be a shorter trip than last year’s vacation to Apple Hill, you’re going farther from home and it’ll cost more overall. You need to save for the expenses of the actual trip and then save for all the shopping you’ll do in the largest Lego store in the USA! Hopefully, it will have some of those recent sets you haven’t been able to find, or maybe it will have those new ones. Keep up with those Lego emails!

Don’t forget to keep designing new and fun models for your castle world. The Village Well was easy – go buy those pieces soon. Then get working on that Forest Shrine. You also need to buy all those brown pieces so Will can start building the three-story Elven Treehouse! I bet you can’t wait to see how his Jeweler’s Shop turns out, or that new idea of his, the Cooperage. Keep the ideas rolling and keep taking pictures. Find a free picture hosting website to put the pictures up to share with others.


Building a Family
You lament all the time about how you haven’t started your family. That just isn’t true. You’ve got Will, and you should enjoy the time you have with him because once you do have kids, your life together will change completely.

Don’t worry so much about what you can’t control, like your job or the economy. Be grateful you have a job. The furlough situation will work out one way or another; which you can’t control. Layoffs will either happen or not happen; again, you can’t control it. While a permanent pay cut is painful, don’t stress about it. It’s all out of your hands.

Just do the best you can at your job and bring home what income you can. Things will get better. Will will be able to get a job one of these days. He has started sending in those greeting card ideas to Oatmeal Studies; that may turn out to be a good gig considering how funny and smart Will is. Remember that one that caught you so off guard that you started tearing up from laughing so hard? Yeah, you knew Will would be perfect for writing greeting cards.

So one day, you will be able to buy that three bedroom, two bath house and have a baby. All in good time, all in good time.


2010 Key Goal
Be flexible.