Kosmo’s New Year’s Resolutions
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First, I’ll note that these goals are all professional, rather than personal. As in the past, I will go forward somewhat anonymously. I’m not completely anonymous, though – my picture is actually me, and if we interact offline, you’ll recognize me.
I resolve to put forth a serious effort into my novel, Casting Stones. I got off to a roaring start in November, writing more than 7000 words. December has been much different, with fewer than 500 words. Furthermore, I have become dissatisfied with what I have so far, and will likely end up rewriting all of it. This is not entirely a bad thing. What I have written so far is light on descriptions and really just rushes to move the plot forward. This has always been a problem with my longer writing.
I resolve to submit a series of short stories to the Iowa Short Fiction Award contest. This requires a 150 page double spaced manuscript. If I keep writing stories at my current rate, reaching this length should be no problem at all, and I should actually be able to do some editing and removed some of the inferior stories.
I resolve to someone finish the “long” story for the 4th quarter of 2009. This has died on the vine a bit, and with a baby due in the coming weeks, it is unlikely that it will be finished soon. Still, I’m hoping to having this finished by early February. Alternately, I may choose to write several bonus short stories for volume 3 of The Fiction of Kosmo.
I resolve to have minimal turnover in staff in 2010. 2009 was a pretty crazy year. I’m sure some of your heads were spinning at times, due to the rapid addition of writers. I’m happy with the staff we have right now – in both the caliber of the writers and the breadth of the content. I wouldn’t mind having a bit more content that appeals to women, so if anything is added in 2010, that would be the area I seek to address. We also have a couple of writers currently on sabbatical, and I’m hoping they return in earlyb 2010.
I don’t thank my writers enough for the work they do. Their only pay is future profit sharing – which either means they expect us to turn a profit at some point, or that they simply enjoy writing. I suspect that they enjoy writing, and hope that maybe they earn a few dollars at some point.
I resolve to steer The Soap Boxers out of the red and into the black. I really haven’t focused much on finances in 2009, instead choosing to focus on the content of the site. I’ll still focus heavily on the content in 2010, but with the current staffing level, I should have more time to work on actively driving traffic to the site.
I resolve to get on Twitter more often. Currently, most of my Tweets are just automatically generated announcements of new posts. In 2010, I’ll try to be more active on Twitter, and allow follower to gain greater insights into my life. This doesn’t mean I will be tweeing 24/7, because I have a pretty small tweeting windows (a couple of hours every night).
I resolve to publish at least 325 articles in 2010. That’s 6.5 a week, allowing us to go without an article once per fortnight. We published 370+ articles in 2009, so I think we can definitely achieve this.
thank you for reading and have a great 2010.
Kosmo is the founder of The Soap Boxers and writes on a variety of topics, including the Fiction Friday original short stories. You can purchase some of Kosmo's work at the company store. Like Kosmo's writing? You can leave a tip. Like this site? Subscribe via RSS, Subscribe via Email, or Follow us on Twitter. The permanent URL for this article is:http://www.thesoapboxers.com/kosmos-new-years-resolutions/
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Wal-Mart Ship to Store Wal-Mart gets a lot of negative publicity, but one thing that they get right is Ship to Store. You buy an item on WalMart.com, choose to have it shipped to a nearby store, and pick it up when it arrives at the store. The shipping is completely free. I keep waiting [...]
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In January, the Baseball Writers of America will announce the 2010 Hall of Fame class. For the thirteenth time, Bert Blyleven will be on the ballot. Twelve prior times, he has fallen short in his bid for enshrinement at Cooperstown. I truly hope that this is the year for Bert. To make my case for [...]
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We’re winding down 2009. When the year began, The Soap Boxers was in its infancy. I was the sole writer, and the schedule that I set for 2009 was 5-6 articles per month. Obviously, we’ve gone far beyond those expectations. We’ve also gone far outside the original topics of customer experiences, news, sports, and book [...]
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The sleigh glided down to the snow, touched down for an instant, and hopped back into the air before landing for the final time. The reindeer taxied quickly to their stable, in spite of their exhaustion from the long journey. Their food was close enough to smell. Santa unhooked them from the sleigh and the [...]
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Today, we welcome The Angry Squirrel to the staff of The Soap Boxers. He will take a liberal stance as a writer for the Political Observers segment. Christmas Eve is here and “Hooray!” the Republicans decided that they needed to beat the weather to get home to their families instead of continuing to stall the [...]
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Right away, I’ll tell you which type of computer to buy. The one that you’re most comfortable with. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer. Now, we’ll move on to the rest of the article, which will focus on the Mac. Personal Experience The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe. I [...]
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The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are quickly approaching. I’m really starting to get geared up. Most people are familiar with the more traditional sports of skiing and skating, and today’s kids are familar with the X-games style sports. Today, I’ll introduce you to a few more sports. Luge My favorite winter Olympic sport, bar [...]
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Writers for The Soap Boxers are freelance writers who work as independent contractors. Opinions expressed by the writers may not necessarily reflect the opinion of management.
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Please email Kosmo at Kosmo@ObservingCasually.com with any questions you may have.
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