Entry - Dear Me Contest

Dear Me,
    Since it is just the two of us – me and, well, me – I feel that I know you well enough to let you in on some very personal goals I am setting for Me, or You, or Us, for the year of 2012. We will review this list monthly. If the Aztecs were wrong, we can congratulate myself next January and see how much we accomplished. Wouldn’t it be marvelous fun if we accomplished all of them? Wouldn’t that be a change for us?
    I heard that! And the answer is no, this is not the same as the New Year’s resolution to de-clutter the house. We can discuss that one after a month or two when we haven’t done any of it. We may need it as an excuse not to work on these goals? Aren’t you the cynic? We would never do that! Would we?
    Goal 1 is to edit, edit, edit until Adam’s Quest is what we wanted it to be. We did not do all that research and planning, or toil all those NaNoWriMo hours writing to just have it sit in a Scrivener file. Perfect? Did you just whisper that it is already perfect? No, my dear, we still have much to do!
    Since Goals without dates are just wishes, we will complete our editing by April 17. There might as well be something wonderful happening on tax day! Look, if the US Government sees fit to give us two extra days this year, then we will allow ourselves the same!
    Goal 2 is to prepare ourselves for Camp NaNoWriMo. We are already reserved for the June session. We will be writing The Graces: Thalia. We have already spent a considerable amount of time since November on our Conquistador research and will be ready to dedicate ourselves to hours of frenzied writing in the tall, cool pines! Okay, Okay! I am well aware that we will be in hot, dry, dusty West Texas. We will crank up the A/C! Good grief, use your imagination!
    Our research and outline deadline is May 15. One of us even thought far enough ahead to reserve June vacation days. We are good when we put our mind to it!
    It goes without saying (all the more reason to say it) that Goal 3 is to achieve our 50K words no later than June 30. We shall dedicate ourselves to that challenge and we will win. I am confident that we will face this goal without fear or reservation. We know we can do it.
I hope you are not exhausted yet. There are just a few more goals to be worked on in 2012. The good news is that these goals can be achieved while we are working on some of our other goals!
    Dear Me, our descriptions, particularly of people, are sadly deficient. Goal 4 is to practice this skill. We will complete at least two descriptions of people each month in 2012. Not being selfish, I will even let you pick the person we are going to describe - sometimes. We will not limit ourselves, but we will accomplish at least two per month.
    As you know, our other writing challenge is dialogue. We consider dialogue, but we rarely write a conversation. We are masters at skirting this issue, but we want to master this skill. Frankly, whether you will admit it or not, we are simply terrified of doing it badly. As with all fears, the only way to overcome it is to do it. We must either conquer it or consign ourselves to writing travelogues! We will set Goal 5 to practice writing conversations, at least two per month. We will set no limit, but we challenge ourselves to write two intelligent dialogues every month.
    There is, if we can stand it, one more writing goal for the year. We will complete our research into the world of self-publishing. Since a deadline will help us achieve it, why don’t you select it?
    October 18? Any special reason? No? Well, October 18 it is!
    The best part of setting these goals, Dear Me, is that I get to work with you! You are creative and talented, two things I covet for myself. Sometimes you even understand me better than I understand myself.
    And sometimes I know us better, so we will recap:
          • Goal 1 – April 1 – complete edit of Adam’s Quest
          • Goal 2 – May 15 – complete research for The Graces: Thalia
          • Goal 3 – June 30 – 50K words The Graces: Thalia  Camp NaNoWriMo
          • Goal 4 – End of each month – write two descriptions of people (24/year)
          • Goal 5 – End of each month – write two conversations (24/year)
          • Goal 6 – October 18 – complete research into self-publishing

    Are you as tired as I am? If not, I am sure we can work on that as well.

    Looking forward to the challenges for 2012, Dear Me.

          Me
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