New Year, New Resolutions

I think my first New Year's Resolution should be: blog once a week. I haven't been that good about it since I stopped taking classes that required me to blog. But I think if I plan on doing it every Monday from now on I'll be in good shape. As for other resolutions, I resolve to graduate with Honors, get into grad school, continue to write and develop new ideas, and get published. We'll see how many of those turn to to be unrealistic.

I've done mostly revising since Christmas break, working on my thesis and making changes as my mentor recommended. Sadly, I haven't been doing much new work, first drafts or pre-writes. That might change in the near future, though, because I am taking some very inspiring classes (a class on Tolkien being only the prime example) and I have suddenly felt my blood start rushing. I feel alive, which is weird for it being only January - this doesn't usually happen until March. I feel up for an adventure, whether it be real or imagined. All I need is a cause and few characters and something will sprout. I'll keep you posted.

I have done some thinking lately about the continuation of my "Nightshade" story. I've started to outline the details of how Ian, my hero, will defeat his major foe and what it will do to him. I'm of the belief that if you have a story where the stakes are high (saving the world comes to mind), the heroes cannot return home unchanged. Sacrifices have to be made. This view annoys some of my friends, but to me it feels more like a real ending. I'm not going to say here how it ends. You'll have to wait for my books to get published.

I've been reading pretty heavily. Nothing, though, that particularly stands out. I have been reading "The Hobbit" for my class, which may have contributed to my premature yearnings for adventure. I really admire Tolkien for being able to create a world, rather than just a story. The geography and languages add to the reality of the illusion. It's those stories that feel real to the reader that last and are reread.