New Year, New Beginning

After taking a year-long hiatus from all things related to writing, my one and only New Year's resolution this year is to write more, so this represents my brand new start. Of course, this is a promise I make to myself often, that there will always be time tomorrow, but there are no guarantees, so I have to make time to do the things I love, or not get the chance to do them at all.

This year I read a lot, mostly on my Sony e-reader. The whole e-book thing has really taken off, with a huge boom in e-book sales this past year. The big-box stores now carry Kindles and Nooks at affordable prices, making them easy to own, and super convenient. The introduction of the Kindle Fire is a game-changer, as it appears to be able to do all the things an i-Pad does at a fraction of the price. Even in my own sales, I've noticed Amazon is head-and-shoulders above the competition, so even though I originally wanted a Sony reader so that I could open all kinds of files (not just Kindle-formatted files), I am a huge supporter of the Amazon Kindle. Hey, if such a device can encourage people to read more, I'm all for it.

I've been wading through my gigantic list of book freebies I've downloaded. Most of them are generally Christian romance. I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but I do like the uplifting message most try to convey. As long as they don't get too preachy (often a huge mistake in books of that nature), I like the simplicity of it. I tend to enjoy the historical/western ones that blend the Christian romance in. However, reading this genre doesn't do much for my own inspiration since I have no interest in writing those types of books. Maybe that's telling me something right there.

I've also spent a lot of time playing video games this past year. I tend to really enjoy the ones that are more story-and-character-driven (obviously). I definitely don't fit into the 'typical gamer mold,' but it's still something I enjoy. Unfortunately it's been cutting into my valuable writing time significantly (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age and Skyrim). I can't be content with a game that generally takes about ten to twelve hours to beat, oh no. I go for the monsters that can take anywhere between 20 and 100 hours (depending on how much side questing you want to do). Fit a full-time job in there somewhere and you'll get an idea of how difficult it can be for me to just sit down and write.

Last year around this time, I'd only been living in my new house for two months, so there was an adjustment period there while we settled in and got used to the rhythm of a new life. I'm not sure I've really found that rhythm yet as life just seems so uncertain these days. But I am definitely trying. Hopefully I'll have something to show for all this effort by the end of the year. Several somethings would be nice, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.

Here's to a happy (and hopefully productive) new year!