Wow, here we are, six months into this blog, and I am pretty satisfied. I know that I have not done it every day, like I expected, which is designed to be a chance to write every day, well actually every week day, five days a week, a thousand words a day. I managed to pull it off pretty well, I think. I of course fell into the Na No Wri Mo situation jsut a few days later. Now that was very good fortune, good luck, whatever you want to call it. But it was not five days later that I found out about this. I chose to do this blog first, then separately found out about the Na No Wri Mo, and I had a great combination of things to do. But I am pretty pleased that I have been able to keep up with the writing thing and the wiriting group and the Na No Wri Mo thing and the group and the keeping it up for five months after. I am pretty please with myself and pretty proud of being able to keep up this schedule, albeit imperfectly. But it now six months after the start of my first Na No Wri Mo, and only six months away from my next Na No Wri Mo. Time is certainly flying, and although my discipline has been imperfect, that is for sure, I am proud of what I have done and that I am still on a roll and ready to keep on writing. There is no chance now that I will not make it to next November without a novel ready to be written.

Now I am not saying that i have accomplished ALL of my goals for this year, which included the reviwion and rewrite of WANTED, and the completion of SOUL MATES, but I have acoomplished a few things that were not on my list of goals, such as publishing an exceprt of SAOL MATES, writing some OK short stories, committing to a writers group, and writing an award winning (thank you, M B A A and A of F, and soon to be published academic paper. So all things considered, I am pleased with my 2003 progess. But I am not content to rest on my laurels, I am ready to keep going and getting more and more done and keep on writing and revisnig (I hope on this one, at least) and research and prep and outlining and thinking and . . . yes, and even writing. I am pleased, but I know that I have more to accomplish.

I think the key accomplishment of this year is the fact that I take myself seriously as a writer, and my family knows of my writing. This is a big move, as the seriousness of my work is now part of the mix. I let my wife read WANTED when it was finsihed, but she did not seem excited about it. Another person knew about it, that I was writing, but also kept the secret. I wrote with my daughter some stories and "books" as we called them, but she did not know that it was something that mattered to me, personally. Now they all know that. That is progess. I now do not need to hide my writing magazines and be embarassed and ashamed by my dreams and hopes and wishes, and again all of this is progress. I have written a novel, and about three fourths of another and have started some others. All of this is worth pride, and worth of my esteem. I am proud. I can now even write on the board that schedules things for our families that I am going to a writers group meeting, and next November when the next Na No Wri Mo comes along, this will be OK as part of what I do and my family will support me and give me the space I need and the time I need and the understanding I need. Maybe one day Emily will sign up, too. She will not get very far, but it will be fun for her to try it one day. So I am ready to model and encourage and help her, but of course I need to do a little work myself getting ready and getting credits and getting published. I am proud of myself, but I would not mind at all if my spouse and child and parents and sister would be proud of me one day, too. It is a wild dream, but something that I can look out for. Then comes the C Span and the non fiction and the other writing opportunities with my family and my old church . . . I just want to write and write and write . . . and be respected and respected and respected.