It's not time for the holidays yet

One of the things I never appreciated about France until bagging a Frog was the importance of holidays. At work the february school break is called Ski break. Now as one who has never skied, I can drop a whole load of reasons why I don't want to try (and regularly do to my sister in law as February swings round), but this major clue about where holidays lay in the French psyche still didn't get through to mine. The summer holidays are called 'Les grands vacances' another big clue, and I'm sure I've written here about how Paris clears out during the summer. And Boulogne Billancourt as Paris' 21st arrondissement is no exception. If anything, last year our residence was like a ghost building as we rattled around here post move. So why am I mentioning it now? Because in order for the big clear out to take place, the French spend January scouring the internet looking for somewhere to stay. And frankly all those holiday villas, houses, apartments are  starting to blend into one and I can't look at another 'annonce' right now. 

So, here I am turning my mind to my writing resolutions 2012. Thankfully, what with it being January and all (just about) EVEYRONE has already posted theirs, so I've pilfered the useful ones!

1. This one isn't directly a writing one. Someone wrote about mind and body and I'm certainly happier when there's a little physical activity  going on in my life. NO! *blushes* I meant exercise, sheesh. So I'm going to swim once a week. I was aiming for 1k, but my sports coaches have pointed out that first I need to stop pushing off the sides of the pool! 
2. I will write a synopsis (Thank you writing gods. Nicola Morgane's Write a Great Synopsis came out YESTERDAY). 

1. I will write a query letter (I think that's Nicola's next book!)
2. I will knock the revision of current WIP on the head. 
3. I will send off some pages to the editors/agents from the December conference I attended. 
4. I will write the first draft of the thing that I started in November. 
5. Crit group is a must (especially since we've shifted to evenings and there's a bottle of wine involved). 
6. Maybe attend one SCBWI thingie. 
7. Keep an eye out on the Chicken House website and see if they're running that MS comp again this year. (Part one of that plan is now in place in that I follow them on Twitter). 
8. Keep the social networking manageable -No Tweetdeck, cull regularly. 

And lastly I will take the balloons down. Party time is over, it's time to get to work.