I have a crazy cold, so just some short comments from my stupid med-addled head:
Amy, I like the idea of checking it; motivation is important for me in anything I do.
I've never formally outlined a story, so that could be useful. I've outlined a zillion research papers, but there's bound to be something different with outlining fiction, so that would be cool to look at.
Sox, flash as an exercise is a good idea. I'll incorporate that into my repertoire as well.
Typo, I don't have a preference as to eformat or print, but I don't want to self-pub, really. I know it works as a format for a lot of people, and I'm not going to diss it at all, but it doesn't feel right for me at this time. It's not really aimed at an audience of one; I could just write a story on Word, print it out, and give it to my dad, but that's not the point. It's more of a he always said I would write a book one day and to him, a book or a story is something that OTHER people saw the worthy in also, and chose to publish.
Plus, you know, it's for me. I've always thought I should be writing, but I'm deeply lazy and have been dealing with emo problems for a long time. I'm 42 and it's kind of time to shit or get off the pot, yanno?
Connie, I don't understand what you mean about a career in lit? You mean teaching? Or writing "literary fiction?" I'm definitely a genre writer; I'd be horrid at "literary fiction."
(I hope what I wrote made sense, because I think my head is about to explode or fall off and roll across the floor, or both. Jesus, this COLD.)