Dispatch #32: New Year's Resolutions

by Lupe Fernandez

I, the Foreign Correspondent stationed in the Northern Hinderlands, hereby resolve in the Year of Our Lord 2015 to:

• Use the letter L more often.
• Unflinchingly delete adverbs from my manuscripts.
• Use less sparkly adjectives.
• Remember I comes before C, except after E.
• Finish my lessons in Finnish.
• Complete editing a manuscript.
• Stop procrastinating by watching YouTube; I'm on this kick of Parks & Recreation excerpts. The cast is funny; Amy Poehler hilarious and Aubrey Plaza and... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPr936y2veQ 
• Read more young adult books, except the ones where the guy looks good in jeans and always has a smoldering look.
• Read more middle grade books, except the ones that have...you know what I mean.
• Wash less dishes.
• Wash more laundry.
• Practice patience with crowded refrigerators.
• Check my posts for spelling errors.
• Eat more broccoli.
• Avoid eggplants. It doesn't taste like egg at all.
• Write more query letters.
• Submit.
• Submit.
• Submit.
• Stop crying at rejection letters.
• Stop complaining about rejections letters.
• Embrace my inner orange juice.
• Cast out the demons of declinations.
• Find a location for a local SCBWI schmooze.
• Write serious posts for Pen & Ink that do not wonder aimlessly or include vacation photos or cute cat photos.