A new year, and some new thoughts

Did you make New Year's resolutions? I did. I look forward to the few days before a new year, after the Christmas rush when I can sit down and happily ponder a new beginning to my little world. New plans, new thoughts, new hopes. So imagine my surprise when I asked others if they'd made their resolutions and they said they don't do them. They say if they made them, it'd just be a great reason to break them. Hunh? To me, that *really* shows a person isn't too disciplined. They don't like rules because if they are aware of them, they surely won't follow them? Dang. That's rather sad.

I also think it's a very easy way out. If I don't resolve to do better, I can just keep maintaining status quo (or less.) I don't have to make any plans. I don't have to aspire to any point higher than the plane I'm on right now.

I know I sound harsh, and I feel badly about it. I guess I'm just not cut from that sort of cloth, so it makes it really hard for me to put myself in someone's place and feel ho-hum about new beginnings. But maybe they think New Year's resolutions always have to be about losing weight, or some other decision like "get married" or "buy a house" or "exercise more." All of those top the resolutions lists annually. They also set many, many people up for failure. So maybe what those people who said they didn't make New Year's resolutions really mean is, they don't want to feel bad about themselves if they fail to follow through with their desires or plans. Fear of failure. Now THAT is definitely something I can relate to.

Still, with New Year's resolutions, I think it's key to think positively about them in the first place. Let them be fun things to do, things you want to do, things with steps that are easy to achieve. Then you won't be setting yourself up for failure. Also, have them be markers, stones you want to step on, upbeat stops along your life path that even if you don't achieve them are still good ideas and you'll be proud of at least making the attempt. So you fail. So what? At least you're a dreamer, a schemer, a forward-mover. That's how I see them and I think that's why they work for me.

Summary:

Glass half empty? New Year's resolutions are another chore, another thing you can fail at. Glass half full? They're something to look forward to and strive for, a positive motivator.

So here are my resolutions:

1) Try to stay motivated with my writing. This involves several steps I'm set on taking, such as: a new critique partner, better daily schedule involving less Googling and TV, etc,...

2) Read Pulitzer Prize winning fiction that I've missed, starting with The Shipping News, since someone loaned it to me a while back and it was on my bookshelf. I've printed out a list of prizewinners from 1917 to now. I believe there were 87 titles, most of which I haven't read. Some, I read the author but not that particular book. If you're subtracting 1917 from 2009 right now and coming up with more than 87 books, keep in mind that they didn't give out the award to *any* book in some years. And I'm not counting 2008 yet. Have they given the award for 2008? I don't know.

3) Be open to various avenues of romance publishing. By that I mean, seek out different markets if needs be. This one I'm *always* resolving to do. That's how people get published. Don't be narrow when it comes to marketing.

4) Be a nicer person. That's always on my list, too.

5) Train my dog. Heavy sigh here. My dog always needs training, but I've resolved to do weeks of obedience at a nearby training place. It'll be something new.

6) Further contemplate other things I may want to do if we move to the mountains. These are big pipedreams, so I won't go into detail. I mull over things, things I love doing and could make into a business, but have yet to make up real business plans, or buy any product, or even consider starting small online first. I'm afraid of failure in this area, so unless I change next year's resolution to "Make up my mind about a business" it still won't get done. So you see I'm not always Pollyanna.

That's all. Not a lot, and nothing really new and different except for the reading of Pulitzer books. I've already started the one, and I like it.

How about you? I'll bet you have resolutions, too. Maybe you don't want to label them as such, but they're there. And maybe mine aren't *really* New Year's resolutions, but just goals I'm reminded of in the days before the big ball drops in Times Square. What's the real difference between a goal and a resolution, anyway? The date? I think it's just, having a deadline. And January 1 works for me!

Come back in a year and I'll let you know how well the resolutions went.