So this year I actually made resolutions, because I had never done that before and also because saying goodbye to one year and hello to another actually felt like a thing* this year. And in the interest of recording my best ideas for posterity, I am reproducing them here:
1) Write 211 words a day, every day in 2011. Hopefully this will make for 365 mini-stories at the end of the year. So far I'm on the ball with this one. (Stories so far include: Archie Ferguson--one of three of the favorite fictional characters I have ever created--learning how to make coffee from a comely nurse, William Clark seeing shapes in windblown leaves, and Kate and Jake--the other two--sharing a moment of unresolved sexual tension in an alley.)
2) Ask someone out on a date. This is contingent on several things such as, I don't know, liking anyone. But still.
3) Read more fiction. I'm a little more optimistic about this one. I keep hearing people say that to be a writer you have to be a reader and I completely agree. It can't be a coincidence that my writing slump and my reading dry spot occurred at more or less the same time.
4) Reclaim sense of agency. Part of this is thinking about time in more manageable segments, and not really comparing myself to anyone except my own sense of self. (<--vague, and kind of poorly written, but I stand by it)
5) Retain already negligible upper body strength. Also humor.


*Aaron Sorkin taught me that thing is the thing you say when no other words will suffice. Or when you want to be hilarious.