Looking back, moving forward on Popped

Hey, everyone! Ah, yes, it is that time again to take a look back at the previous year here on "Popped in My Head" and see how things went.

Last year at this time, I had set a few goals. Let's see how I fared:

On the "to do" list for 2013:

• Post more in 2013 than in 2012
• Start "Somewhere Main and Maple Meet" over from scratch; bonus points for finishing it.
• Add missing pieces to "Summer Breaks;" bonus points for republishing it.
• Cross at least one item off my Bucket List
• Perform a semi-anonymous random act of kindness at least once a month; bonus points for doing it more than that. semi-anonymous? That means I won't tell the people, but I may post about it here. I may not post about the acts, though. I wouldn't be doing these RAKs in order to brag or boast, so posting about them might seem that way. That is not my intention. Sometimes, though, performing a RAK may lead to personal insight and/or observation that I'd want to share.

And, how'd I do?

• In 2012, I posted 90 times. In 2013, 187 times! Now, I realize that sounds like I doubled my post output. While that is technically true, the majority of the 2013 posts came in the way of Instagram auto-posts of photos I took throughout the year. For me, this is actually a good way to go about generating posts. It means I am increasing my photographic endeavors. I love taking pics and sharing those out with the world. Why not? We're only here for a little while - no use keeping those to myself!  Plus, a lot of the posts came by way of note taking during various conferences I attended. For me, blogging my notes is a great way to share what I'm learning!
• I put "Main and Maple" on the back burner. I don't know about other authors, but when I try to push a storyline, it becomes too contrived and I hated that feel for what "Main and Maple" is supposed to be. In fact, I've decided to take the story in a whole different direction. I am going to try my hand at a baseball-related novel. We'll see how it goes!
• I am still working on the rewrite for "Summer Breaks." Rather than put this on a fast rail system, I've decided to put it on the leisure tour. The finished rewrite will most likely double the length of the original novel, fleshing out characters, adding time period references, and giving the reader more childhood adventures!
• I crossed a couple things off my Bucket List in 2013: Pay for someone else's meal and Take the family to Colorado for vacation. I also ADDED five things to it!
• As for Random Acts, I just want to say that the whole family participated in random acts during the year. We put each act on a scrap of paper during the year and those scraps went into a box that we read through on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful to hear how each of us were able to help others in random ways. We did not do it to brag on ourselves or pat ourselves on the back, but rather to remind ourselves that there are others out there we can touch with simple gestures.

Plans for 2014?

• Post more in 2014 than 2013, and post additional meaningful posts. I plan to keep sharing photos and conference notes, plus whatever else pops in my head!
• As I mentioned, I have a newfound direction for "Where Main and Maple Meet" - baseball! We'll see how that goes in the coming year.
• "Summer Breaks" will get a rewrite, but it will be a slow-cooker process rather a fast-food one.
• I hope to cross off at least one thing from the bucket list, but also to keep adding to it.
• We will continue to perform random acts and put those in the box to be read next Christmas Eve!

What are your plans for 2014? Feel free to share them!  And, as always, thanks for reading along.  You just never know what will pop into my head next!

Looking Back, Looking Forward

On this day one year ago, I set a few goals:

1. Post more here on my blog,
2. Write a new novel,
3. Enhance my existing novel and rerelease it,
4. Cross at least one item off my bucket list.

Let's see how I did:

2011 - 80 posts, 2012 - 90 posts = Mission accomplished, I guess.

I do plan to post more on here and a few enhancements should help in that regard. For example, InstaGram is now on IFTTT, so I created a recipe to auto-gen posts from my pics. I am also working on a few other recipes to help auto-post plus I have my own lengthier posts to put on here which will help build content as well.

New novel: Yeah, that went nowhere. I still plan to write it, but too many false starts and dead ends left me frustrated and dejected about the whole thing. I am hoping to find renewed vigor for the novel in 2013.

Enhance "Summer Breaks:" Yeah, that didn't go anywhere either. Maybe 2013 will prove a better playing field for my words.

Bucket List: I was able to cross TWO things off the list in 2012 - Ride Washington Incline and See Indians Play in Cleveland.

So, I went 2/4. Batting .500 isn't too bad. But, now, where do we go from here?

On the "to do" list for 2013:

• Post more in 2013 than in 2012
• Start "Somewhere Main and Maple Meet" over from scratch; bonus points for finishing it.
• Add missing pieces to "Summer Breaks;" bonus points for republishing it.
• Cross at least one item off my Bucket List
• Perform a semi-anonymous random act of kindness at least once a month; bonus points for doing it more than that. semi-anonymous? That means I won't tell the people, but I may post about it here. I may not post about the acts, though. I wouldn't be doing these RAKs in order to brag or boast, so posting about them might seem that way. That is not my intention. Sometimes, though, performing a RAK may lead to personal insight and/or observation that I'd want to share.

I'm not setting unrealistic goals like "be less sarcastic" or "lose weight." I think knowing one's limitations and potential is key to successfully keeping one's "resolutions."

Welcome to 2012

Happy New Year!

First, a look back and then a look ahead.

On January 9 (just a few days away), Commodore revealed the Commodore 64.  The computer cost $299, which was not horrid back then, but not exactly peanuts either.  The real downside was that EVERYTHING was extra - floppy storage was another $179 for the original 1541, if you could find one.  Most folks started off with the $99 tape drive.  Yes, kiddos, before games came on DVDs (or there was anything remotely referred to as 'the cloud,'), we had games that were stored on cassette tapes.  Oh, wait. You might not even know what cassette tapes are.  Yeesh.  Before MP3s and CDs, we had these plastic cases with a think ribbon of 'tape' that held our music.  Well, the same technology to store music was used to store data.

Aside from the affection Mac owners are known to have for their computers, Commodore owners probably 'loved' their computers the most.  No other company (again, aside from Apple) garnered such admiration for a line of computers as Commodore.  Even today, you can ask people about their old '64s and watch as their eyes glaze over, their head tilts slightly to one side and their mind wanders back to a time of 8-bit wonders.

Some time ago, several years actually, several groups/companies came up with C64 emulators that would run on PCs.  Now, you could have all the nostalgia running in a window on your computer while you surfed the web, played other games, or did just about anything else you wanted to.  The entire C64 collection of games fits on a series of DVDs.

And then, Commodore was reignited and a new company brought forth a C64 clone.  The new machine is a PC running the emulator.  It also costs over 3x as much as the original, listing for $999 from CommodoreUSA.  No thanks.  Even if I bought the emulator and the DVD series, I'd still have change left over for my card hobby.  So it wouldn't LOOK like a C64. Who cares. I digress.

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As for looking ahead, I managed a paltry 80 posts in 2011.  I posted more than that during my first year of blogging when I really had no idea what I was doing or why.  I am not a "resolutions" kind of person, but I absolutely resolve to post more in 2012.  What accounts for the lack of posts?  I'm ashamed to admit it, but Facebook and Twitter have become my main outlet streams.  That's not a bad thing, really, but I am a huge proponent of blogging, especially in education, and so I need to champion that which I, er, champion.

Of course, the first round of solid postings will come from the annual "American Idol" rundown.  I also plan to post some of my more in-depth musings on here and let those take on a life of their own here and in the social networking realms.  For instance, my thoughts on public breastfeeding sparked quite a conversation on Facebook.  It would have been fun to start that here and then follow it in both circles, possibly cross-posting back here as to additional comments, etc.

I have been putting off two novels as well.  I don't mean reading them - I mean writing them.  So, the next "resolution" on my list: Write 'em.  I've actually decided that "Summer Breaks" will become a larger version of itself to be entitled, "Extended Summer Breaks."  It will be cleaned up and several elements expanded based on feedback I've received from friends and reviews.  The other novel, "Somewhere Main and Maple Meet," is already 2/3rds complete in first draft, so I'm looking to finish it up and get it published as well.  In fact, I plan to shop that one through Christian publishing circles to see if I can get a tradition publisher to pick it up.  I'll keep you posted.

My final "real" resolution relates to my bucket list.  I am picking one item to cross off the list and will focus my attention throughout the year to make it happen.  Not sure which item yet, but once I choose, that will be the one I try to knock off.

Thanks to everyone who comes by to read my ramblings and musings, and I hope to provide you much more entertainment in 2012 than in 2011.