Making Any Progress?

I marvel at the gems Lucy comes up with when writing in her blog. She asked if I’d read her latest a while ago, “The pain of discipline or the pain of regret”, and I hadn’t. I’ve linked to it in my title bar, I’ve given up trying to use the hide a link tool; it’s become so unreliable.

Lucy makes a good point, may as well accomplish those goals we claim are important to us; either way it’s going to make us pay. What goals have you set for yourself, this being a new chance to set some goals? I’ll share one of the goals I’ve been working on.

I plan to finish writing another novel, The 4th Nephite, at least that’s what my temporary title is until I get to that point where it makes sense to change; marketing, editors and publishers will help that along. The funny thing about writing “a novel on the side”, is that the motivation to advance each chapter toward the completed story comes in spurts. On days when the locksmith business is running good I don’t have a lot of time to spend developing ideas, on slow days I’m tempted to sit back and watch a movie and just relax, there’s that great time waster called solitaire built into the computer that can rob me of precious time; did I mention that I blog which takes time away from my book?

The pain of discipline or the pain of regret that I have before me involves my need to write at least a couple of pages in my novel each working day; two pages regardless of how tired I am, what time I get to bed isn’t all that much to ask of my creative self now is it? If, scratch if; I will do that all year long, there being about 22 working days in each month, my book should be done some time before the leaves start to fall off the trees. The next thing will be to get in touch with a professional editor/mentor who knows the book business and take those steps necessary to get the book on the market. Lucy has a friend with a daughter in the business so I won’t have to scurry around looking.

I’ve heard it said that everyone has at least one novel in them. I’m hoping that this, my second novel, will get published and make sufficient money so I can write even more. My goal is add locksmith to my list of retired professions, next to retired police officer.

So, are you making any progress? When you turn off the light and place your head on the pillow will the pain you feel be the result of your discipline to achieve your goals or will it be the regrets for having settled for less? May we all hitch our wagons to a star and wear ourselves out getting there, broken torn and out of breath.