Wednesday, January 12, 2011

longs shots or shooting the moon?

Yes, it is already the second week of the new year but it is never too late to extend my list of resolutions. Though sometimes better read than done, I think I have created to-do’s that I could pull off (hopefully). Besides, I managed to complete one resolution last year (which is the last bullet in this list) until I unknowingly took a cocktail drink with Sprite in the mix in the last few days of December. Forget it. Here’s to defying excuses for 2011!

#1
Completely finish reading a novel or anthology every month. I am a (very) slow reader but I will give this a shot. I’ve gotten numerous books last Christmas, and stacked in a corner of my room they just scream to be read. Not that I’m complaining. This is light-years better than a stack of journals.

#2
Write a new short story or poem or finish writing one in each month. I almost accomplished this last year but due to the irrepressible shifting of the cosmos I failed.

#3
Draft the freshman novel. I have to do this. I am almost in my mid-20’s! (Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby” at 28, Thomas Mann at 24 for his “The Buddenbrooks,” Kafka at 29 for “The Metamorphosis,” Hemingway at 27 for “The Sun Also Rises,” John Updike at 28 for “Rabbit, Run,” and Pynchon at 26 for “V.”). There’s no harm in being ambitious (I guess).

#4
Return to Tagbilaran this March for some breather and to Dumaguete this May and linger for a week (at the least).

#5
For something that does not deal with words, here’s one: never drink or sip even a drop of carbonated drink or soda (a continuation of last year’s resolution).

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