And 2006 rolls in

I didn't think it had been this long since I actually wrote anything but apparently time has a funny way of slipping out from under me. The Christmas holidays were particularly nice to me and My Fair Lady, and New Year's was equally enjoyable. We went to Lubbock for several days to spend Christmas with her family, then had a nice dinner at home before driving around looking at Christmas lights to celebrate New Year's.

It is now time to discuss the 2006 promises that I intend to keep. Here's hoping I actually do so. :)

1) Write more. This is hands-down the goal I am most focused on for this coming year. Last year I got back into writing more with my stories, ideas, scripts, and blogs, but this year will be the year I focus on them and turn them into more than a few pages of scrambled notes. My Fair Lady gave me a year's subscription to Writer's Digest for Christmas and that combined with her gift of the PC game The Movies and my parents' giving me a top of the line screenwriting program means I have all the motiviation and tools in the world to finally shut up and do it. Consider it done.

So what exactly does that mean, you might ask?

It means more of me here, and on my machine at home. I'm currently wrapping up the holidays at the house, and addicted to Ratchet: Deadlocked, but my plan for cranking out writing projects is simple. It's all a matter of focus, which is something I've lacked from birth. I figure that I may as well learn it now that I'm staring down 29. Once again I have to point at my gaming addiction as a turning point in my life last year.

In 2004, I actually completed seven games. Probably played close to 100, but actually finished seven. In 2005 I completed 25 games total, with one of those being completed twice. The difference was focus. I would start up one game and play through the entire thing before I even touched another one. That way my extensive backlog slowly, but surely, was whittled down.

I'll confess to being on the verge of exploding the backlog again, but I have a different view on both gaming and writing this year. My focus is on one thing at a time now, and thus far the results have been amazing. Since my attention span is roughly that of a gnat, anything shiny tends to draw my attention away from what I was working on. With my writing projects, I'll write on something for a while before another idea pops into my head and then I follow that for a while. The way to end the cycle and actually get something completed is to set, and adhere to, deadlines.

Trust me when I say this scriptwriting program is nine kinds of kick-ass. It goes on my machine tonight. A few other things have to be done first before I will really focus on it, but you better believe that this weekend my focus is on writing. Gaming and movie watching will occur as well, but a 48-page script I'm working on goes back onto the front burner this weekend. My due date for that is by my birthday which is towards the end of next month.

I intend to hit it.

I also intend to crank out more movie and TV show thoughts here. I know I said as much last year, but this year is again about the focus to complete things. It's high time I actually lived up to my own abilities and desires so here goes. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it as much as I do.