Decide on Writing Fiction and Other April 2011 Goals

I've been too busy doing the things on this list to make this list, which is an improvement over being too busy slacking off! Here are my April goals:

1. Decide on where I want to go with writing fiction. I'm starting to come to the realization that my heart just hasn't been in the fiction novels I've written. It's a hard thing to come to terms with, because I want to be a fiction writer. I'm just not sure how much I want to write fiction. Or maybe I just haven't come across something that I'm passionate enough about yet. My goal as far as this goes is to gauge my enjoyment of this activity, and see if it's worth it.
2. Write Weird Worm articles. My Weird Worm articles didn't get written last month. But now that I'm used to writing 3,000 words a day, it should be a breeze. I want to get at least 20 13 done this month (7 done already!). And that will give me enough money to buy the digital camera I'm eyeing!
3. Plan for travel. I have an ambitious plan to visit my granddad in England and then my relatives in Norway in May once my lease is up. I also want to leverage this into a travel writing opportunity. I plan on tackling a bit of my huge to-do list each day. I've already started contacting travel mags and writing sample articles.
4. Keep up with exercising. I've been averaging 6.5 miles a week of jogging/walking/biking/hiking, and I want to average 10 by the end of April. So far I'm good with 20 miles this month.
5. Start a cooking blog? I'm playing with the idea of starting a cooking blog. I love to cook, I do it regularly, I love to take photos of food, and I love to blog. However, I'll have to see if I can swing it with everything else that's going on.
6. Keep improving traffic to my online articles. So far, the work I've put into my online content isn't really paying enough for the amount of time I've spent. I want to make sure that I'm using my energy in a productive manner.

That should be more than enough to keep me busy until May!

What if? Writing Prompts

One of the few textbooks I kept from my undergraduate college years is the wonderful What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, which is apparently still in print. This fact surprises me, although the inside cover of the book shows a copyright date of 2004, a mere four years ago. Sometimes it feels much longer than that.

Anyways, I know that I'm not supposed to post online any stories that I intend to have published someday, because that makes the story "previously published" and many publications don't accept previously published works. But I would like to showcase my writing, seeing as this is an emerging writer's blog. So instead of posting stories, I will post my responses to exercises in the book. Feel free to comment, but remember, it's just an exercise, not a work of art!

This post is based on the exercise involving taking risks, and involves writing about an experience that never happened to you. Aka, the opposite of writing what you know.

Sweat trickled down my face as I stared at the airplane's exit door. The plane's vibrations jiggled every square inch of my body, which might have proved relaxing under different circumstances. I scrutinized the door, hoping that action would stop my mind from wandering. I read and reread the words printed on the door until they formed a mantra in my head - incaseofemergencyincaseofemergencyincaseofemergency. In case of emergency? Yeah, right. In a few moments I'd be headed out that door, emergency or no emergency, and nothing at this point could save me unless I wanted to be known as a world-class dork for the rest of my life. I sure as hell wasn't about to take the skydiver ride of shame back down to the ground as the rest of my friends fell thousands of feet, bodies floating free through the sky, their limbs writhing like drunken octopi.

(Exercise from What if? Writing Exercises For Fiction Writers, Copyright 2004, Pearson Longman.)