Writing Resolutions

I tend to not make conventional resolutions each year (other than always attempt to re-focus basic efforts towards eating better, losing weight and reading more), but for the past few years I have set up some basic writing goals.

Before 2010 hit, I set up a few goals.  Here is what I resolved, writing-wise for 2010:

1. Finish the first draft of my novel A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK
2. Continue to keep 3 to 5 stories into circulation at various short-fiction markets
3. Try my hand at writing a non-fiction article on the topic of fatherhood and sending that to a "parenting" market

Here's how I did:

1. I completed the first draft of A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK, and have since put it aside to age a little before I take a stab at doing a second draft version of it.
2. A quick check of my writing submission journal reveals that I kept no less than 3 stories in circulation at all times this year. That seems to have worked because I did sell a few stories. (And you can't sell them if you don't submit them)
3. I did NOT write a non-fiction article on the topic of fatherhood nor did I send that to a parenting market.  (I did, however, write and publish 11 other non-fiction pieces, mostly publishing-related articles) and I did pitch a "customer experience" article to a food services retail magazine (they didn't take it, but the article was a nice stretch for me)

In terms of other things achieved outside of this list, in 2010 I sold 3 short stories and my novel I, DEATH, which is slated to be published in November 2012.

As always, I got sidetracked incredibly from my writing this past year. For the past 6 months especially, I've been bringing a lot of work home with me (shall I call it homework?) that I've been doing in the late evening and early morning, and that has stolen much of my writng time from me.  Also, being heavily involved as a board member of Canadian Booksellers Association takes a fair portion of my free time as well.

However, those need to be recognized for what they are: excuses!

It might be nice to have excuses so as not to be held accountable for commitments. But let's be honest, excuses are only useful if the goals themselves aren't important to you. If you're serious about achieving something, you need to achieve them DESPITE good excuses.

A mantra for writers (or perhaps even a resolution for those who want to complete writing projects) might be:  ACCEPT NO EXCUSES! or I WILL ACCEPT NO EXCUSES FOR NOT WRITING!

We all willingly give up precious minutes every day to a ton of mundane tasks - I'm sure that even in the busiest days, the average person can find a simple 15 minutes to devote to an important task. 15 minutes a day focusing on writing might be all it takes to get a few things done. (That's not to say ONLY 15 minutes, because there are days when I spend hours -- but 15 minutes a day is a good start)

So with that in mind, here are 3 goals I'm setting for myself in 2011:

1. Sell a non-fiction article outside of books/publishing (I'm not going to lock myself down with a "parenting" article, because along with my "food services/customer service" article, I've been kicking around a "men's health" style article (from a complete novices' POV of course). This year I'll take the shotgun approach, scatter a few and see what sticks.
2. Complete the re-write for I, DEATH (since that version of the manuscript is due at the publisher by the end of the summer to begin the official publication schedule)
3. Get my novel MORNING SON back in circulation with publishers
4. Work on the second draft of my novel A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK
5. Keep between 3 and 5 stories in circulation at all times.

Yes, I upped the ante this year - from 3 goals to 5.

Why?

Because in the background, I'm also working on a non-fiction book idea that Francine suggested I work on. And if I want to get that done, I need to be extremely focused in my approach and not allow myself to slack off.  Writing begets writing.  I've found in the past that the more I write, the easier it is to write even more. There's something about being in the "swing of things" or neck-deep in the flow of writing that simply generates more.

So there - the year is young and I'm filled with a commitment to get these goals done.

Have YOU set any writing/creative goals for yourself for 2011?

HNT - Naked Eyes 2010

Today marks the 5th anniversary of a blogging ritual that I have been participating in since almost the beginning. I didn't start to do HNT posts until October 2005 -- but it started on Osbasso's blog 5 years ago this week.

And for that reason, the suggested theme Os is throwing out there is an attempt to re-create your first HNT post.

What is HNT? It's Half-Nekkid Thursday. Half-Nekkid Thursday is a celebration of exposure -- exposure of any part of you. And despite the connotations associated with "naked" it's not about "dirty pictures" or about "sex" -- sure, some of the half naked pictures are uncomfortable in a puritanical sense, but often HNT is about channeling the creative spirit by exposing various parts of oneself, both physically and emotionally. Artsy body landscape shots are encouraged -- also encouraged are shots of oneself taken BY oneself.

In a nutshell, HNT is a suggestion for a type of blog post that has become a huge "underground" community.

Several people over the years have asked me why I wanted to start posting "nekkid" pictures of myself each Thursday. It's difficult to answer other than with something simple like "because I can." I've always enjoyed the creative spirit and liberating feeling of doing an HNT themed post, and since I started back in October 2005, I believe I haven't missed a single week.

Sometimes the posts were risque in nature (ie, revealing skin), but often they were about exposing a truly personal thing about me (ie, revealing far beneath the skin).

And, quite regularly, the HNT posts I've offered have been filled with humour or allowed me to stretch my storytelling legs a little (consider the "Spud Wars: Darth Tater Unmasked" serial adventure I did and then the "sequel" storyline called "Terror in Toyland" which seemed to have gotten cancelled and never returned for a second season despite some viewer acclaim -- sigh, just like many of my favourite TV shows). I even had the pleasure of planning cross-posts with at least 3 different HNT friends. What a great joy that has been.

What I quite enjoy about the nature of the HNT community is the great diversity out there. Everybody has a story to tell, and often, participants tell amazing and touching stories with a single picture and a bit of text. The HNT community is open and welcome, immediately accepting of everyone and has been a pleasure to be a part of. Sure, I don't "go visiting" to many other HNT member blogs much any more, but I continue to participate in the weekly ritual and still feel a part of the community spirit.

In any case, I've had a great time experimenting with this format, with the themes put out during certain seasons, have made a ton of great bloggy friends (some of whom I've had the pleasure of actually meeting in person), and each week look forward to putting up another HNT post.

Happy Fifth Anniversary, HNT. A huge thank you and hat tip to Osbasso, the father of HNT who started it all and brought people from all over the world together each week now for 5 years.

My first HNT post was of my "spooky eye" underwear, and today's post is a revisit to them. Fortunately, Francine puts my Halloween underwear away, so I only wear them during Sept and Oct, so they've lasted all these years.

Yes, this is one of those "risque" ones -- risque in the scense of our western aversion to the natural human state of "naked" -- but it's really just a funny picture of me in a pair of some of my favourite boxer shorts. You see just as much skin when I'm on the beach. Over the years I've included many pictures of the goofy printed boxers I regularly wear. I think it's funny that so much time and effort goes into picking out something to wear like underwear that most people never see.

This picture, while a bit out of focus and not a perfect recreation is the one I liked best -- I really liked something about the sunlight bleeds into the picture and the way the light falls on my arm.


No, I'm nobody's photographer. But that doesn't stop me from having fun each week.

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday. If you want more info on HNT, click on the HNT logo below which will take you to Osbasso's site and the post back in 2005 that started it all . . .

A Child's Right To Privacy

In the most recent episode of Spark (CBC's radio show, blog and podcast of ongoing conversations regarding technology and culture), host Nora Young talks to two different parents about the rights of their children's privacy in today's social media/connected world.

It made me pause and wonder about the way in which I have exposed my son to the world through my blog -- which, for the most part, has been, since I started it in 2005, a pretty unfiltered view into my day to day life, including embarassing pictures, moments and memories of my personal experiences, most particularly in my role as a writer, bookseller, husband and father.

I determined, a long time ago, that many details about my life weren't all that secret anyways. And, given I don't believe I have anything substantial to hide, I wanted to blog honestly and have it be about the real me rather than about a particular scripted persona I was trying to push out into the world.

We already wear too many masks, and besides, I figured anyone with half a mind could see right through any sort of fake representation of who Mark Leslie Lefebvre was.

(Okay, perhaps the one thing I purposely modified was my full name, given that I originally was seeking to push out the nom de plume or psyeudonym that I use and have used "Mark Leslie" as my handle through blogging and most of my social media profiles -- not that it's any secret, since, from day one, I've always included my full name in my blogger profile and "Mark Leslie" is part of my actual name.)

But what Nora's recent interviews on Spark did was made me wonder about the inadvertent violation of my son's privacy.

Sure, my wife can speak for herself and understands the repercussions when I relay a cute anecdote about something she said or that we did. But my son is only 5 years old, and, for most of his life, I have blogged about my experiences of fatherhood as well as posts specifically about him and how much joy and wonder he brings to my life.

And yes, in his way he is aware that Daddio is blogging about him and including various pictures of him on his blog. He has even had fun participating in some of the silly "stories" I have told through words and pictures online -- like the original "Spud Wars" HNT series I posted in which father and son team up to take on Darth Tater and his group of clones.

Sure, he finds them fun and neat now, but what is he going to say when he turns 13 and every little thing, every cute little anecdote, every silly picture I have posted of him is an opportunity for embarassment?

What about that sensitive time in his life when every single thing his goofy old man does is embarassing to him in front of his friends?

How is he going to react when all those private moments, all those cute stories from when he was a tiny infant (such as this post about the "Streak of the Naked Baby") are discovered?

It makes me wonder.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

At the beginning of the year in Jan 2009, I resolved to do a few writing related things:

And I quote:

1) Continue to keep between 3 and 5 stories in circulation at all times during the year.

2) Re-work the completed novel MORNING SON and get it back into circulation with publishers

3) Finish the novel A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK (which has been on a back burner for way too long now) - Paula B from The Writing Show will be so proud of me if I can finally accomplish that. I'd finally have something really cool to reveal in the continuing interviews for her "Getting Published with Mark Leslie" reality series.

Let's see. In terms of 1, I believe I was successful in that pursuit for most of the year. I DID manage to keep at least 3 stories in play for most of the year, and continue to struggle with that pursuit.

Number 2 was a bit more challenging -- I did rework about 75% of Morning Son, having spent a good deal of time in the summer working on it. Of course, I ended up losing most of that work (in one of my "way too late" clean-up exercises in the den, I accidentally threw out the hand-written notes and updates I'd made on a printed version of the manuscript). So I had to re-start at the beginning of the novel one more time. A frustrating pursuit, but I'd already re-written and re-edited the book half a dozen times -- that's just part of the process. But in terms of getting the book BACK into publisher's hands, I was successful at that. I made two attempts in 2009. One in which it went into a seemingly bottomless slush pile never to return (ie, not even a "piss off" from the publisher, nor do I even ever expect a response) and another which I just sent out the week before Christmas to a market I spent a while researching to determine if it was a "proper" fit for Morning Son and I really do feel there's a good match between my novel and this publisher (so I have all my fingers and toes crossed on that one)

As for Number 3, what is this, a curse? I started writing A Canadian Werewolf in New York several years ago as part of a "public" challenge on Paula B's The Writing Show podcast. And, despite the humiliation of not having finished the novel, I continue to leave it on the back burner. Yes, I chipped away at the book a bit in 2009, but didn't make any significant progress on it. Nothing "newsworthy" to report to Paula.

I can make other excuses such as the fact that at least I was working on writing, had several stories published in 2009, including things I'd written in the past 12 months, was able to collect stories for and edit the book Campus Chills (which took a tremendous amount of my time and energy). I also wrote and had several non-fiction articles published and was invited to start submitting articles to The Mark News (A Canadian online forum for news, commentary and debate) -- But there's no escaping the fact that I failed to fulfill all 3 resolutions.

That being said, I received an email yesterday from Paula B telling me she had a listener contact her to find out what was going on with A Canadian Werewolf in New York. It seems this listener is sincerely curious. And it's just the kick-in-the-pants I need -- knowing that there's a potential reader out there who actually cares enough to take the time to ask the status of this book in progress.

That makes finishing the first draft of ACWINY my top resolution for 2010. So while I don't have a dramatic update for this interested party and Paula B, I do have a new-felt personal motivation to get this one completed.

So, that being said, here's what I resolve, writing-wise for 2010:

1) Finish the first draft of ACWINY and report that back to Paula B and The Writing Show listeners that care (I know there's at least one of them out there and THAT more than anything gives me a truly heart-felt desire to make the time to finish this project)

2) Continue to keep 3 to 5 stories into circulation at various short-fiction markets (after all, you can't get stuff published if you don't send your stuff out)

3) Try my hand at writing a non-fiction article on the topic of fatherhood and sending that to a "parenting" market (got to have a fresh goal, something I've never done before, you know, to reach beyond my normal comfort zone)

I have already started working on a "book" project with a fellow writer, and something that, if our pitch to publishers goes well, will keep me extremely busy in 2010 (can't really say anything about this, but it's an incredible project this fellow scribe, and someone whom I look up to invited me to work with them on). So if this project takes ahold, my writing time will be compromised -- but that should just be more motivation to keep at the 3 items on my list.

Let's see how I do this year, shall we?

Now that I've put my resolutions out there, do tell -- what do YOU resolve writing wise?

1000 Posts

I just realized that this post will be number 1000.

Kind of intimidating to note that such a high round number as pretty as 1000 could possibly just be any old random post. So now that I've thought about it I figured I should make it count somehow.

So let's take a quick retrospective look at this blog, shall we?

I started this blog on a whim on March 09, 2005 -- a simple post, like so many first blog posts, feebly announcing, unnecessarily so, that I was starting a blog. The blog post was entitled Beginnings. So we now all know Mathew Growden is to blame for this (I won't bother trying to link to his elusive and continually changing online presence -- just know he's an influential dude)

Later that same day, I think I started in my true stride of blogging, and something that represents most of what this blog has been about -- personal reflections on things going on in my life peppered (I believe) with moments of humour. That blog post was entitled Not the TV show starring Dick and was about growing a Van Dyke beard (that is a mustache combined with hair on the chin, but not the cheeks -- ie facial hair that surrounds only the mouth -- people still call these goatees but a goatee is hair on the chin area only)

Funny, a real-world friend pushed me into the blogging world, and I ended up with tons of blogging friends (friends I met through the Blogiverse) some of whom have became real-world friends. Of course, there are still many whom I consider friends whom I haven't met in person yet but imagine I will some day. (Like this past summer when I was traveling on business in San Francisco, very close to the stomping grounds of Marcel Nunis and he made a trip into town to meet me: I Left This Post in San Francisco)

Over the years, I have created many posts centered on writing, bookselling, fatherhood and my observations about the world around me. I've never tried to be really serious (ie, stick to a particular topic or apply journalistic integrity to my writing), but occasionally I've done serious rants or blogged about things that were critically important to me. Mid-way through this blog, I started using tags, which have been useful in defining what type of post I've done. Of course, when you click on a tag, you only get the most recent couple of dozen posts -- so trying to find one of my earliest posts on fatherhood, for example, like Attack of the Carpet Critter, You Can Pick Your Friends or Child-Proof But Not Idiot-Proof requires intense searching which I doubt anyone would want to do.

Wow. 1000 blog posts in just under 5 years (it'll be 5 years in March 2010) -- that means about 200 posts on average per year -- not bad output. Assuming the average post contains perhaps 300 words, that means I've written about 300,000 words on this blog. That's somewhere in the realm of 3 novels worth of words.

Part of me wonders if I'd just applied that amount of time and energy into writing if I'd have more output and be further along in my career.

Very Possibly. (Most of my publications have been short stories and articles -- and while I have 3 books to my name, they're collections of short fiction or books I have edited which are compiled of other writer's work -- there's still no novel contract in my clutches) So, yes, it's possible that if I'd ignored this blog and spent that time and energy on the various book-length projects on my back-burners that I might have something more to show for it in that respect.

However, working on this blog HAS meant that I've been writing on a regular basis, which was one of the underlying reasons for starting this whole thing. (I remember, at first, I used to write blog posts offline while on the GO train heading into Toronto for work, and I'd post them once I arrived -- I'd spend about 5 to 10 minutes composing a post before starting into a writing project I did on the train. Most mornings now, when I get up between 5 and 5:30 AM are spent the same way. So, while blogging takes away from my time writing fiction and articles, it gives me the opportunity to continually work at writing -- and hopefully, by keeping at it, I'm getting better and better.

Consider Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 Hour Rule" as described in his book Outliers -- basically, that the key to success in any field is largely due to practicing for a total of about 10,000 hours. Interestingly, assuming I spent between 5 and 10 minutes a day on 1000 blog posts, that puts me close to the realm of 10,000 hours, suggesting perhaps that I might be approaching the realm of "successful blogger" according to Gladwell's rule. In all honestly, though I've been writing since I was in my early teens and have easily logged more than 10,000 hours writing, the key, in my mind, is to KEEP practicing, and that, every single extra moment I spend writing makes me a better writer.

And while I'm not overly concerned with "hits" a quick glance at stats (at least since I began tracking, and who knows WHEN I added that), I have had about 63,000 visits to this blog over the years. I also know that there are RSS subscribers to this blog (people who never visit, but who pull a feed of this blog into a reader), but I'm not sophisticated enough to know how many I have -- also, this blog automatically feeds into my profiles on Facebook as well as Goodreads and perhaps others, but I honestly can't remember -- and I know there are folks reading through those spots as well based on comments, emails and IM's received.

So while, admittedly, as a writer, it's fantastic to know that people are reading, and while I do try to keep my diverse "audience" in mind, I'm really just writing things that are important to me, or things that I, as a reader, would enjoy reading. I find if I focus too much on trying to write something with only readers in mind, I fall flat -- my best posts, IMHO, are the ones in which I'm simply being true to myself and prattling on about things that I find important enough (or silly enough) to warrant spending a few moments pondering "out loud" on this blog.

So, for those of you with enough patience to be reading this long blathering retrospective post, and those of you who have been "following" my online postings, thanks for checking me out. I wish I'd thought to include a cake or something to make this 1000th post more memorable. But it has been fun to stroll a bit down memory lane.

Thanks for reading. And, if I might be so bold as to ask -- what is your reason for reading this scattered grouping of my online ramblings?