5 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS I SHOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP

5 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
​I SHOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP

2016. With each year that passes, there is plenty to cheer and jeer about. If you've been online, you've seen the constant quarrel between those who think 2016 was the best year ever and those who think it was the year everyone and everything great died. Heck, I was guilty of the "2016 ruined everything great" comments myself, though they were often offline, incoherent rambles amongst cohorts. Some people, who once hated 2016, now defend it because it became a fad to hate it. 

Rather than tackle either worldview, I moving ahead to New Year's resolutions. How original, right?There's a good reason for it: I don't often make any. 

The main problem with New Year's resolutions, as you already know, is that they can be difficult to keep. We set an unrealistic goal, too high to reach. Or we simply set too many goals to knock out during a single year and become discouraged.  

For 2017, I have 5 simple goals for myself that I hope to achieve, and frankly, I should be ashamed if I don't. ​Perhaps, you might just enjoy what intend to bring to the table. 

While I've always liked this cover for Excluded, the Douglas Residence was supposed to actually be a Victorian home. Then a mansion.

5. RELEASE A PAPERBACK VERSION OF EXCLUDED

There is a lot of news coming up regarding my debut horror novel Excluded. I'm not allowed to share some of it until 2017 finally rolls around, but if you happen to be reading this post, then you're a lucky dog because I'm going to spoil the part of it I'm allowed to at this point. 

There is going to be a paperback version of Excluded. Yes, that's right. The paperback some say they own, yet I don't own myself somehow. It's happening. That's definite as long as I keep the ball rolling. The real question is when. I need to work on a few details, including new cover art, should I decide I no longer want to go with the original eBook design. My guess is that you should see the paperback hit stores by Spring 2017.

4. FINISH ASHLAND'S ASYLUM BECAUSE I SHOULD HAVE DONE SO A LONG, LONG TIME AGO

The reason you haven't read Ashland's Asylum is  . . . well, it's completely on me. I could list every excuse as to why, like I did back in 2014/15, but the truth of it is, life happened. New places, new friends, new jobs, new obstacles. I was confident at times, and I was completely discouraged during others. More often, it was the latter over the former. 

But whether it's the middle of 2017 or the end, I really, really want to make this one happen for you. I think it's a terrific tale, but it's a difficult one to be happy with in its final drafts. Think about writing 5 novels at once. That's basically what it's been.  My next book is going to be a linear tale, that's for sure. 

3. TAKE SOME RISKS

Time for Chris to be frank (wait, what?). When you get caught up with too many things at once, sometimes you're compelled to just accept losses. Well, no more. 2017 is about regaining confidence and taking the risks I've failed to take during the last couple of years.

​Letting Excluded ride on its own, finishing up Ashland's Asylum, beginning a new day job: These are all journeys I've already started to embark on in an effort to create a "new me" but also restore the "old me," the writer with a pep in his step. Of course, in doing so, I'll be letting go of the few things that were comforting and familiar. 

So far I've made what might be considered small steps to some -- and gallops to me -- but all I know is that I intend to keep moving. I want it to be like running. When you return to it, it hurts and you're terrible. All you can think about is how good you used to be, and you debate whether you can still keep up. You look at your desitantion and think it's an eternity away. But after awhile, you run faster and faster. And before you know it, you look back at where you started only to realize the distance between there and the new place was never that far away to begin with. 

2. GET BACK TO FILMING

Some of you know this, and some of you don't, but I enjoy making short films. However, I haven't had the luxury of a camera or any editing software in a long time. I've already knocked out half of that for the new year, and I've been shooting away. 

While I'm not sure I'll produce many short films for you to enjoy during the year itself, the primary goal is to rub away the ring rust and put what I learned at the David Letterman Building to use. I want the difficult part to be finding some guinea pigs/actors to help me out as I work on my cinematography again. And by want, I don't mean want. I hope I find some people willing to let me film them even if it means I will never release the shorts. 

1. MAKE SOMEONE LAUGH SO HARD THEY CRY

Everything in this blog entry so far has been about me for the most part. It's very easy to get caught up in yourself.

I may not be the only one guilty of self-involvement, but one of my primary goals for the new year is to meet new people, as well as spend time with the good friends and family I already have. Rather than get lost in myself, I want to show them a good time. And while I'm not the funniest man on the planet, I would love to make someone laugh so hard they cry. (Yeah, yeah, it's cliche.)  I'm serious. I  want to provide a few more fun memories for all of us to hold onto. It's very easy to be negative and much harder to be positive, but I believe with practice, you can turn that situation the other way around. 

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