Have you seen my D.A.R.E. Bear?

Throwback Thursday

This post was going to go one of two ways: 1) Reminiscing on the first writing award I can remember receiving or 2) The same thing, plus a tangent on how much of a return on our investment we expect from our writing. Well, 1 + 2 = I can't find my D.A.R.E. Bear.

Not that I expect to find the actual teddy bear 20 years after winning it--I really don't know if I have it and it's cold in the garage--but I did fully think that I would at least be able to find a picture of him online. (Yes, 'it' is a 'him.')

Minus one traumatizing exception--his head was stuffed into an ATM, so I couldn't make a

Goals, SOPA, Tricks, Pics and the Super Bowl

I posted a short list of my 2012 writing goals as a separate page on this blog earlier today. Instead of worrying about what I have or have not completed in January, I'll start checking things off starting the first of next month.

Look for a progress report at the end of every month and some helpful tips in between. Shaping up to be an amazing year! Remember: Experience, Love and Achieve are the buzzwords!

The Spirit of Writing Goals Trump Actionable Lists

The spirit of my goals are my 2012 writing goals.

I'm going to fly in the face of conventional wisdom for a moment and state that nebulous aspirations are just as--if not more--important to writing goals than yearly navigational checklists. (Gasp!)

That's right. 

Because I believe that you need to know what state of being you want to be in, or view your work from, before you know in which direction to head. And all that comes before envisioning all the little steps (or epic leaps) it's going to take to get you there.

The spirit of your writing and the manner you embark upon doing it should matter. That should be the way in which your proceed, the momentum that carries you towards your goals--be it successfully starting a new