Lofty Goals... are there any such things?

I recently made a pact with a dear friend of mine, my BWBE (best writing buddy ever), Becca.  We have both been working on a book for nearly two years.  We both want to finish.  We decided to vow to each other we would finish within six weeks, making our finishing date September 17, 2012.  I need too stay focused and not get to lost in details of what I've already written so that I can just push through to the end.  I'm getting closer and closer everyday, but I need a little more push behind me.  So I've decided to share with the world my goal in the hopes that having it out there will help push me through to the finish line.  I'm really trying to keep myself accountable to the goal I've set.

I am posting right here, right now, I will have this book finished (the first draft, mind you) on or before September 17th!!!!  

To keep me excited and maybe (hopefully) to gain more people to cheer me on, I've decided to share just a few bits and pieces of my work here on my blog.  
I'd like to post a small snippet every week until I'm finished to keep myself going strong by holding myself accountable.  (if you can't tell I really like that word: accountable.  there's a certain power to it and it's a big part of my personal mantra right now: I am accountable for the promises I make and for what I do with my talents).

This first excerpt is from the very beginning of the book as we meet Dee Scott, our heroine.  As a world-wide traveler/homeschooler, she is going to public school for the very first time... in Alaska.   But Dee stands out for more reasons than just being the new girl from England that has an American accent.  She is also highly trained in several forms of martial arts and is deadly with throwing knifes and with a bow and arrow.  There is definitely more to her than meets the eye... more to her than even she knows.

Being the new girl in town is so cliche nowadays.  In a world of hand-held mass media devices that live stream books, movies, music and social status updates every young girl feels like and actually believes she’s been the new girl multiple times, though in reality she’s lived her entire life in one home, going to school with all the same kids since kindergarten.  It makes actually being the new girl even more annoying.  People stare at you briefly, feeling pity for you and almost simultaneously deciding you deserve no pity because everyone is the new kid at some point, get over it.  If they only knew.  I’m the new girl on a whole new level.  Though really, for their sake, it is better they don’t know a thing about who I am; I’d hate to have to kill them all when my sole purpose in life is to protect.

Inspiration for the setting of Dee's story.  Stole this picture from here.
Question: is it really stealing to nab someone else's photo off
the www?  I mean, I did link it back to the source.  I'm good, right?

p.s You can check out some of my BWBE, Becca's work on Babes in Disneyland, a great resource blog for tips and tricks to getting the most out of your visit to Disneyland.