Kim Nelson: Resolution 2014–My Writing Goals

I have always wanted to write a book. As a young kid, I’d fill blank paper with stories about a dog named Huggies that got into crazy adventures, illustrated with plenty of drawings of French poodles. In junior high, I became more of an equestrian fanatic and wrote about the enduring friendship between young heroines and their horses. I continued to write through college and beyond, though my focus turned to sketch comedy. At some point, life got pretty busy between serious relationships, work, forays into roller derby and CrossFit, and before I knew it, I had drifted away from my early love of writing.

A little over a year ago, I was incredibly lucky to stumble into a newly formed writing group, Drinkers with Writing Problems, where the other members had the same goal as me: to become better writers and learn how to carve out some time in our busy lives to devote to our passion. Being a part of a writing group got me back on track and reawakened my long-held dream of writing a book. It may not be great, I may not decide to let many people read it, but I’m going to finish it, finally. Because this is a large, time-consuming project, I only have three criteria I’m setting for myself:

1. to have a first draft completed by the end of 2014;

2. to reach a minimum of 50,000 words;

3. and for it to be better than goddamn Twilight.

I don’t want to be overly pretentious and pretend that I am coming up with the next Great American Novel. Just getting 50,000+ words down onto a page that aren’t complete horseshit gibberish will be difficult enough. And since I am giving myself a full year to hit the word count goal that NaNoWrimo-ers do in one month, I’m aiming for this draft to be pretty decently polished. Ideally, when I am finished I would like to at least take a shot at trying to get published. If that doesn’t work out (and I know that it is a very, very long shot), I may look into self-publishing so that at least the people who regularly read my work (hi Mom!) can check it out. But goddamn it, if I can’t come up with anything better than sparkly vampires pushing an abstinence agenda, I may as well retire now.

I figure that by putting this on the internet, it will hold me accountable. So please, when you see me, asking me how my novel is coming. Keep lighting that fire under my ass. And for that, I promise you, there will be absolutely no vampire love triangles in it.