And only ten days past the original release date!  ;P  From the Files of Mercedes Mace, Book 4: "Happening To Me" is now available!

Appropriate links will be added below when they become active.

Hardcopy Paperback
Amazon Kindle e-Book
B&N Nook e-Book


Thank you to all of the editors, readers, friends, and family that make my work possible!

[I tried to find a source for the statement below, but failed. If anyone can locate a source, please email or tweet it to me!]

Fun ‘Fact’ 1: people who make New Year resolutions are more likely to make three resolutions than two.

Since I have no source, discussing the influences that underlie this pattern is rhetorical at best. Here’s a fun fact for which I do have a source:

Fun Fact 2: Millenials make more NY resolutions than other age groups.

I fall into a strange age category this year, almost exactly halfway between 34 and 35; apparently, I am a young Gen Xer and an old Millenial.

Fun Fact 3: Women make [slightly] more resolutions than men.

Let’s talk resolutions, then. How many did you make, and in which general categories do they fall?

Of those who chose to make NYRs, ~24% of people make two to three resolutions. 21% make more than four. ~42% of Amercians flat out refuse to make NYRs.

That last one surprised me; I had assumed that declaring resolutions was a common social ritual. Tha’ fuck do I know, right?

I like making resolutions: I’m a planner, and I don’t mind failing at goals. When I was younger, I’d stick to a single NYR. But for the past decade I’ve taken to adopting three.

“Do they ever work out for you?”

Sometimes. This site outlines several strategies for making more effective NYRs. You probably know most of them already; this set of NYR tips were widely published in the 90’s and early Aughts.

“I don’t remember reading that, Jessi.”

They were published in a widely-read book called “Lessons From Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology”. No, that wasn’t it. “Strategies of Highly Successful People”? …Nope. “Scott Adams waxes philosophically in the last chapter of ‘The Dilbert Future’”?

Hold on; I know this one.

“The Secret”.

There it is. Yes, in the late 90’s, “The Secret” claimed that it had discovered the strategy to achieve all of your dreams an aspirations. “But Jessi: I didn’t read ‘The Secret’!”

I’ll summarize it for you: Stay focused on your goals.

“That can’t be it, Jessi! That sounds like common sense!”

Your words. Have you ever wondered why it seems like no one has any common sense? (A) You aren’t defining it properly. Turns out most people have common sense—as far as evolutionary psychology goes. Let’s take a trip back 30,000 years. Do you know not to try to poke a sleeping bear? Check. Do you know that climbing up really high could lead to injury if you’re not careful? Check. See? You have common sense.

(B) Misinformation. It’s been a big issue in the ‘news’: misinformation was virulent during the 2016 US Presidential election. People love spreading misinformation. One guy claimed that he thought he was doing a public service by creating a fake news website. He stated that people would recognize the fallacious nature of his website’s ‘news’, and would be reminded that we should verify everything we read and watch.

Cat manure. Modern people have no common sense because at least half of ‘common sense’ is a flat-out lie. This ‘statistic’ brought to you by the same woman who writes about alien mutant robot tentacle dream sex. You’re welcome.

“Jessi: do you stay focused on your resolutions?”

​As I get older, yes. But experience has taught me well; as the years pass, my NYRs become (1) more realistic, (2) more concrete, and (3) segmented with a series of step-wise goals. It’s like project planning in a large business: who needs what, when; what will be finished, by whom; if set-backs occur, which step of the project could suffer them most efficiently?

My NYRs for 2017:

(1) Put out a f#$%ing DMCD book! Sub-goals: suck less at visual art; dedicate particular time in my 2017 schedule for nothing but DMCD pictures and editing.

(2) Have a game ready for publication by July 2017, such that I can finish another game by Dec 2017, such that I can port both to mobile platforms in 2018. “What games, Jessi?” No peeking.

(3) Exercise more frequently.

“Jessi! Number 3 isn’t specific enough!”

Good eye. Let’s change it:

(3) Embrace social media more effectively.

“That’s not much better!”

Ugh. Fine:

(3) Commit to at least one Announcement + social media post per week.

Happy?

​I need more tea.  :P

A day late.  ;P

It happens every year: the last day of the year. “No shit, Jessi.” You’re right: one property of a temporal construct is boundaries: the initial condition, the final condition. If your time is more than one-dimensional, you may have a larger set of boundary conditions. And congratulations on being a super-temporal entity.
 
But with the end of the year comes reflection on the year. And just as the New Year signals the beginning of ‘firsts’—first bagel of 2017, first sex of 2017, first day I didn’t follow through on one of my resolutions of 2017—the end of the year begins to trigger ‘lasts’. Last holiday gift for 2016; last paycheck of 2016; last book signing of 2016. It’s easy to identify firsts: one can call a ‘first’ immediately after it occurs. But lasts can’t be defined until that ball drops on Dec 31st, 2016. Will this cup of tea be the last tea of 2016? Will this massage be my last massage of 2016?
 
“Why are you obsessing over your last cup of tea or massage of the year?”
 
Because I’ve been obsessing about my last writing day. Like many people, I traveled for the winter holidays. Unlike many of you sagacious and prudent readers, I’m went north. Far. North. “I didn’t think that you liked snow.” I don’t. It’s absurd. And every day preceding our leave-date, I ask myself: is this the last writing day of 2016?
 
Since we moved and Cori created my in-house tea-room, I’ve become quite spoiled. I ‘go to Zen’ whenever I want. I have whatever tea suits my fancy. If I’m not feeling productive—because I’m sick, I’m tired, or it’s winter and I’m combating Seasonal Affective Disorder—then I don’t go to Zen. Sometimes, I sit and listen to my books’ soundtracks for a few minutes, and then my productivity soars. But as my anxiety about traveling rises while the countdown falls, my productivity has correlated to the latter instead of the former.
 
What is the last writing day of the year? It’s the last day when creative writing occurs. From here on out, I’ll be editing, creating Announcements, editing pictures or covers—but no more creative writing. “That’s not a big deal; you’ll get back to it when you return. Heck, since you’re only going to be gone a short while, you may actually get extra writing time in 2016!”
 
Thank you. That’s a good point. Anxiety about ‘lasts’ for the year is like all anxiety: it’s usually irrational, and never helpful.
 
And in discussing it with you, kind reader, I feel better about it.

MM04: “Happening To Me” is coming out this week, the first week of Jan 2017! And YMM02: “Steps of a Ghost” releases Feb 28th! Later this week: 'Top Game Experiences of 2016', a note about my 2017 resolutions, and a teaser for MMPR02 and DMCD01!

Have a great New Year!