Painting With Light

“Patterns” © R.L. Herron

I’ve probably used this image before. It looks familiar, but so do my New Year resolutions.

When I looked at last year’s list to gather hints for this year, I realized most of my 2011 resolutions are not yet done.

Sigh. Did I really think they would be?

Well … yeah, I did. That’s why I made them.

Looks like I’ll have to make them again. I’m not sure why I keep doing this to myself. Is it because other people expect it, or because I do?

My lovely bride is after me again to shed some pounds. She’s even solicited help from my white-haired mother. Oh, she’ll deny it, but the two of them have a similar mantra.

Coincidence? I think not.

I have to admit, it’s a resolution I would enjoy keeping – except for the work and exercise part. And the forgoing of fried food. Or cookies and cake. And the occasional beer or other alcoholic beverage.

Then there’s my writing.

I did do a lot more of that in 2011. Not here, of course. But I did it. One of my poems “Woodland Avenue” was actually published in a respected online journal, Slow Trains.

I have almost 67,000 words written on my novel. Another 10-15 thousand or so and I’ll be ready to edit. I also have a collection of short stories that is now up to 36,000 words.

Nothing published yet, so that’s still a to do.

I’ve submitted poetry and short stories to about a dozen venues this year. Nothing accepted yet, so I have to re-submit elsewhere in 2012. Plus, I participate in an online writer’s forum every day.

Seems like a lot. So why doesn’t it feel satisfying?

Oh, I attended the Rochester Writer’s Forum again this year, so I can check that one off. Why are you smiling?

Almost forgot, I traced my family lineage back to 1617 in Ireland (I always thought before I was German). My first paternal ancestor landed in Virginia, in 1635. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

I meant to do some traveling, and I have. We spent about 11-12 weeks of this year in Florida, with the grandkids. Maybe next year we’ll go somewhere just for the two of us.

There was also something I know I said about avoiding political commentary. It’s hard in such an overtly political climate.

I’ve managed to keep most of my friends, so I must be doing all right on that score.

Then again, maybe not. There’s a group of us who said we’d meet for lunch once every quarter, and we’ve only met twice. I don’t see us getting in the other two meetings tomorrow.

So, for 2012, I guess I’ll just polish off last year’s list (changing all the 2011 headings to 2012, of course), and try it all again.

Maybe next year I’ll find a publisher, or at least gather enough cohonies to e-publish something myself. Maybe next year I’ll avoid political disagreements altogether (I can already see this one failing).

Perhaps I’ll even do a little traveling and get together with all my old friends. Next year. Why does that sound so damn familiar?

Maybe I’ll finally get around to my original “Blog365” idea, with a short piece of writing every day.

Whoa…wait a minute. Next year is a leap year. There’s 366 days in it. Damn. There goes that idea, too.

Take care, my friends. Happy New Year.

This entry was posted on December 30, 2011 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Branding, Non-Fiction Writing, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.