Setting some goals

I'm sorry to say that things with Rutgers are still a mess, but the spring semester is over and now I've got about three months to work on some of my projects. There's a lot I want to do, but most importantly I want to become a better writer and photographer. Towards that end I have set a few goals for this summer, and even though I've stated them before I thought that I would re-iterate what I want to accomplish;

• #1) Finish my book. - I haven't added anything new to my book in a long time, mostly because final exams were much more of a priority. Now that I have much more time to devote to the project, however, there's no excuse for me not to be working on it every day and I really want to have it finished by the end of the summer. In a perfect world it would come out in 2009 to fit in with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, but I've got a long way to go before that's a possibility (and the window gets narrower with every day). Still, I think I have something quite different from most of the books about evolution that you're likely to find in a local bookstore, a synthesis that revels in the wonder and excitement of discovering the workings of nature. I've read enough books to know what I don't want to write, and that's actually been quite useful in figuring out what I want to say.

• #2) Publish an article in a magazine - Writing a blog, writing a book, and writing an article for a magazine are all very different animals, and I would like to be accomplished at all three. I know virtually nothing about writing shorter features or support pieces, but it's definitely something I would like to do and what better time than now to learn how to do it? My first article pitch involving restorations of ancient life as "real" art (and not just kitsch) was shot down, but I'm going to keep trying. Maybe that idea will never turn into anything, but trying to push it through will at least make me more familiar with the process, perhaps allowing me to have better luck with other ideas in the future.

• #3) Publish a review paper in a peer-reviewed journal - Truth be told, I had high hopes for doing some research this summer; I wanted to study the taphonomy of long-necked birds like rheas and emus, but I don't have the money, time, or resources to undertake the sort of study I wanted to complete. Given that research seems out of the question right now, the best I can hope to produce are review papers, and I want to create a solid review of the history of discovery of hominin fossils and how those discoveries have changed perceptions about our own ancestry. I'd love for such a paper to be published in something like Evolution: Education and Outreach, but I have no idea whether my efforts will result in anything publishable or not.

• #4) Become a better photographer - I just purchased an expensive new camera so I have no excuse to neglect learning more about how to use it properly and take better photographs. I've taken some so-so photos at zoos and museums, but I definitely would like to become a more skilled photographer for reasons both personal and professional (having the ability to write well and taking excellent photographs is a potent combination). Maybe I'll always remain an amateur, but even if that's so at least I'll be creating more impressive images.

• #5) More books! - Should I accomplish goal #1, I've got a few ideas for some subsequent works that I'd like to undertake. Most of these are little more than vague ideas at the moment, but they generally involve some aspect of zoology, paleontology, or evolution (if not all three). Some of them are a little more than titles with ideas attached (i.e. "The Dolphin's Frown" about marine mammals and "The House Always Wins" about ecology), while others have more to do with specific places or figures (i.e. a history of Koobi Fora in Kenya or a book about the animals some of the great naturalists kept as pets [Linnaeus' raccoon Sjupp, Buckland's bear Tiglath-Pileser, Darwin's pigeons, etc.]). Some of the ideas are probably better suited to short articles or essays than entire books, but I'm trying to keep track of them and not let them dissipate. Even if my interests do not result in anything on paper, they all involve topics that I would like to learn more about and therefore will still provide me with more ideas.

I honestly can't say whether or not I'll accomplish any of these goals, but I certainly want to make the most of my summer. The book is undoubtedly my top priority, although I may be able to generate a few articles here and there if the opportunity presents itself. I still want to become a paleontologist and continue to educate myself, but so many people have asked me "Have you thought about becoming a writer?"* that I figured I should probably give it a try. In fact, I really would like to be a writer, but that's not the only thing I want to be.

*Technically speaking I suppose that I already am a writer, but the people who have asked that question meant "professional writer," not blogger. I write because I enjoy doing it, but if I can roll what started as a hobby into some sort of career I certainly couldn't complain.