New Year's Intentions

“Atrophy: a wasting away or progressive decline.” Why am I defining “atrophy” according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, when I’m supposed to be talking about New Year’s Intentions?

Because “New Year’s Resolution” has atrophied to becoming a word much like that of the verb “promise”: something we add to the end of a statement in order to be left alone. (“I love you, I promise; now stop pestering me about it.”)

So, rather than risking the eye rolls and knowing winks, I decided to tell you what I intend to do this New Year. I think you’ll agree I have the best ones.

1: I intend to blog regularly. I know I told you this already. Wait, come back! Seriously, I have it on my iPhone app to remind me to blog. And it’s at the top of the list every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

2: I intend to more vigorously pursue publication in magazines. I have a list of contacts and websites, and already some ideas for stories that might better fit those magazines. (Before, stories were born usually more from academic assignments, not for periodical publication; they do have different requirements – academic assignments are typically less demanding.)

3: I intend to keep up with one side-job, writing articles to post with ad-space. (There’s a website specifically for this where I’m posting.) So far I have 25 articles all dealing with cycling, a subject I know intimately enough that writing the articles will take about as long as writing this blog post does.

4: Finally, I intend to serialize my novel on bywaysunseen.blogspot.com That’s right, starting this Saturday, you’ll be able to start reading my novel online for free. Sound stupid? It could be. But I’ll post on Friday with more details; it’s safe to say it’s not as stupid as it sounds. The prologue will be up this Saturday, so make sure to check it out!

Any good intentions for the New Year?