Edged in Blue

Let’s face it.  New Year’s resolutions are a crock.  You resolve at the end of the year to do something better or stop doing something bad for the following year.  By January 31, bad habits have reared their ugly head, and life goes back to whatever passed for normal.

I have one New Year’s resolution this year, though, one I’ve been very bad at keeping in recent years.  I resolve to kick my freelance writing career into high gear.  And last year showed me I can do it.

Oh, I let freelance writing slide.  Was it the standup comedy?  Was it a new novel?

No, it was web design.  As I get further and further into this field, I realize that I’m going to need more than one line of business to make up for a coming shortfall in income.  OK, I’m going to need something to pay for a year of DirecTV, or at least with HBO until The Wire wraps.  And being a homeowner, any extra cash that can be pumped into house repairs, replacing furniture, or even paying down the mortgage is nice.

Now you may think web design would keep me hopping.  How ever will I find time to work on the next novel or short story?  That’s not an issue.  What is an issue is having something going on between web sites.   Not just for the money.  If it were only the money, I could tend bar.  No, I need a those freelance writing jobs to stay sharp and keep me from burning out on my day job, on building sites for clients, and just living in suburbia in general.

So it’s not about the money, it’s what I do for it.  The material and the markets are there.  I just need to go after them.

Isn’t that what writers are supposed to do anyway?

Besides, weight-wise, I will definitely break even on the year.  Everytime I resolve to lose more weight, I get fatter.  Apathy seems to be my best dieting technique.