I haven’t made a resolution in many years, mainly because I’ve haven’t thought of one that I wanted to stick to with any real conviction. For instance, when I pledged to “Quit Smoking” on New Years, for instance, I had no real resolve to actually quit come January 1st. But this year…this year I’ve got one I really want to stick to:

I am going to submit one short story for publication every month in 2018.

That’s right; 12 months = 12 stories.

This is kind of scary for me. I don’t enjoy sharing my work with other people a whole lot, mainly because I never feel like any of my stories are ever “done.” Every time I go back and read something I’ve written–even if it’s only a few weeks or months after I’ve completed a draft–I always find something “wrong” with it and I get a pang of fear that if I’d let the story go out into the world without fixing it up, I might feel sense a cosmic finger pointing at me and a godly voice echoing, “What an idiot.”

But I’m done with that in 2018.

Yeah, I’m still scared. So what? I was scared when I snorkeled for the first time, and that was amazing. I was scared when I played my first show, when I kissed my first girl, when I got married, when my son was born…and yet here I am three years deep into writing wondering What if I’m no good? What if nobody likes me? What if I’m a hack??

No more.

It’s nice to meet you, 2018. I think you’re going to be a good year.

Photo Credit: Alvimann