New Year, New Job, New Goals

I'm not a big fan of new year's resolutions. My go-to resolution, if people ask, is simply this: to not break my new year's resolution. I'm not sure whether that qualifies as tautological, paradoxical, or both, which is why I like it.

But this year, some things came together to make the start of the 2016 a true new beginning for me.


By the time you read this, I will have entered the offices of the Saturday Evening Post Society in my new role as copy editor. In so many ways, this is my ideal job, at least on paper. I'm writing this post on Sunday night before my first day, so time will tell whether it lives up to my hopes and expectations.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This new full-time position also means that my own company, Logophilius Editorial LLC, becomes a part-time enterprise rather than my primary source of income. Working for myself always sounded like a wonderful way to live. Now that I've tried it, I've learned just how unprepared I am for it.

But it wasn't a failure — at least I choose not to look at it that way. I have cultivated a number of relationships through Logophilius Editorial that will continue to be fruitful. Turning it into a part-time venture means I'll have less time for that freelance work, which means I can pluck off only the tastiest apples from the tree. I can afford to say no to some requests.

It looks to be a promising year. But then, every year looks promising at the beginning.

I'm not going to make any resolutions per se for 2016, but I do have some hopes for my next year in words:

• Finally finish writing my first novel, Circles.
• Blog more often.
• Read fewer mammoth books (DF Wallace, Neal Stephenson) and more regular-sized novels (I see more Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore in my future).
• Finish writing more short stories.
• Get at least one more short story published somewhere during 2016.

Writing and editing are solitary pursuits. One effect I hadn't anticipated when I decided to work entirely from home was how quickly solitude could become loneliness. In 2016, I'm going to do more to not be so lonely, even if it means fighting my innate tendencies toward introversion.

I've simply got to get out more and do more with more people.

And that's the closest you'll get to a resolution from me.

Sometimes it seems like my entire life revolves around the manipulation of words, but I have a lot of hopes outside of wordsmithing, too, like these:

• Go camping with my sons.
• Get new tires.
• Take that woman on a date.
• Catch up on all my bills.
• Pay off the windows.
• Paint the walls with my colors.

What about you? Do you have any reading, writing, or editing resolutions for the next year? Do some of my hopes resonate with you? Is there some personal improvement you hope to achieve in the next year? Let us all know in the comments, and if you've posted them elsewhere, leave a link. You may just find some readers who'll help you get where you want to be.