Shellee Cruz

I know, I know – it’s January 6th, but I’m just now getting back into the groove of everyday living after being out of it since mid-December.  That’s when my family and I left for our early season ski trip to Telluride to beat the crowds and get in some steeps before Christmas.

We chose Telluride this year because my husband and I have made it a goal to ski as many different ski mountains in North America as we are able before we’re too old to get on skis anymore. That and we got a great deal on a ski-in/ski-out condo which is primo important when you’re skiing with a 5 year old.

Anyway, after a two-day, 18 hour drive (the last of which entailed 60 miles on a two-lane, icy mountain road going 40 mph with sheer drops to the valley floor just out my window – fun times, fun times!) my family, and my marriage, made it alive and intact to the picturesque former mining town of Telluride.  Fat, powdery flakes were falling, the air was crisp and clean, and the ski runs beckoned us to the mountain, so of course the first thing we did was located the only Chinese food restaurant in town and chowed down on eggrolls and kung pao chicken.

And what you ask does any of this have to do with writing?  Patience, grasshopper; I’m getting to that part.  Anyway, after gorging on fried wantons washed down with an icy Tsing Tao, I cracked open my cookie and read my fortune:  Your creativity will bring you prosperity.  The sooner the better, I say, or my husband is going to make me go back to a cubicle in T minus 8 months.

So, in avoidance of that end, I present my 5 writing goals for 2009:

1)    I will finish my current WIP by the end of January.  Technically I was supposed to write the words “The End.” on December 31st, but with skiing, Christmas, New Year’s and last night’s Fiesta Bowl (Thank you, Longhorns, for finally showing up to the game!) it just didn’t happen.

2)    I will plot out 2 more stories, one of which I will complete and the other have at minimum a first draft done by year end. This is a lofty goal for me, since I tend to be a very slow writer, not because I don’t work consistently (though I can always do better here), but because it’s hard for me to overcome my perfectionist tendencies.  But no more, I say!  If the crappy novels I keep unintentionally buying can get published then so can mine.

3)    I will have 3 things out for submission at all times. This includes queries to agents and editors, as well as some select contests.  I don’t usually enter the myriad RWA chapter contests because I’m not convinced they do anything useful for an unpublished writer’s career that a good critique partner can’t do, but there are a few that round up some great editors in the biz that I’d love to get my work in front of.  And speaking of contests…

4)    I will enter the Golden Heart competition this year. This is the grande dame of contests for unpublished writers in the romance genre, and if you final and/or win it can get you across the chasm from unpubbed to pubbed.

5)    Finally, I will get my “PRO” designation. This is a designation within the RWA organization that indicates you have a completed manuscript and are seriously pursuing publication by querying agents and editors, which you prove by racking up boilerplate rejection letters.  To be honest, this has never been important enough to me to go through the hoops to get it because other than getting priority in the queue when signing up for editor/agent appointments at the RWA National conference once a year, it doesn’t do much for you.  However, I promised myself I would do this for my friend Emma Clair, who really wants me to get it to show that I’m progressing to the end goal.

So, there you have it.  Hope these don’t end up like my annual resolution to lose the last eight pounds of “baby” weight.