Bringing 2013 to a close

2013 is going to be over before we know it. As I'm preparing to move my entire life to another state, I'm thinking about how I want to end this year, and how I want to start next year.

I know I have to take things slowly, one step at a time, especially right now. My divorce is nearly finalized, I've changed jobs, and I'm moving (three enormous stressors all at once). But I know I need to keep looking and moving forward, so I'm looking ahead to what's going to happen once I've moved to Florida and gotten settled.

I have plans for my life. Some big (some very big) and some small, and I'm taking the steps needed to start accomplishing the things I want to accomplish in my life and career.

To that end, I've set some goals for myself for the end of 2013. Several of those goals have to do with my personal life (sorry--I won't be sharing them here) so that I can take the next steps toward other things. However, there are a couple of bigger, more long-term goals I have that I'd like to talk about here.

Earning my MFA in creative writing

I've wanted my MFA for a long time. I would love to be able to teach college-level English (and writing), and I know that in order to do that, I need a Master's degree. So I'm looking into graduate programs I can attend while living in central Florida and looking at what I need to do to get in. I'm preparing to take my GRE, and I'm starting to work on my writing portfolio for my admissions package. And I'm hopeful that--soon--I'll be a graduate student.

Publishing the collection

I've been working on the coffee house book for a long time, off and on. Lately has been more off than on. With everything that has been going on in my personal life, I've had to set it aside to focus on other things. But I haven't given up. And when I'm not working on the collection, I'm still thinking about it almost all the time. So along with my goal of moving toward graduate school is to get the coffee house book ready to seek representation by the end of 2014. I've already made some progress toward that, I have a writing schedule in order to get it done, and my hope is to have a draft in the hands of a couple of beta readers next spring/early summer.

Over the past couple of years, I've been able to prove to myself that I'm stronger than I though. I can do what I want to do, and so I'm going to.

Big plans, y'all.