First off, I have to say I’m having a lovely day. Any day that includes Cheesecake Factory avocado eggrolls, a trip to Half Price Books, and a Friday Fellow mention from the lovely Emmie Mears is a darn good day and an excellent start to the end of the year.

It seems like everyone in the blogging world is looking ahead to next year, setting goals and guidelines for themselves. That’s probably a good thing to do.

Trouble is, I don’t really have any blogging goals. Yet.

My goals are all related to my fiction writing: seek some new beta readers, finish polishing Shaken, start the major overhaul on Conspiracy, write a new Mitzy book, begin the agent hunt, write the perfect query letter, start submitting, rinse and repeat.

Oh, and plan a wedding, get married, and all those life things.

It’s almost the end of DecemBlog, so I want to leave you today with a quote from Jim (and you should definitely read his whole post):

YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD WHO CAN KILL YOUR DREAM. *NO ONE* can make you quit. *NO ONE* can take your dream away.

No one but you.

If you want it, you have to get it. You. An author can’t help you. An editor can’t help you. An agent can’t help you. If you want to climb that hill, the only way to do it is to make yourself do it, one foot in front of another, one word after another. It will probably be the greatest challenge most of you have ever faced.

And here’s the kicker: THAT IS A VERY GOOD THING.

If you stay the course and break in, you are going to acquire a ton of absolutely necessary skills. You have to learn to motivate yourself to write even when you don’t feel like it: Discipline. You’re going to have to learn the ropes of the business, and how to work with an editor: Professionalism. You’re going to face what might be years of adversity, facing a monumentally difficult task and you’re going to overcome it: Confidence. You’re going to do it with very little active support, and when you look back at this time in the future, you’re going to know that it was something YOU did all by yourself: Strength.

There you have it, folks. I’ll be back tomorrow to wish you a happy new year and even wax a bit nostalgic about 2011.