New Year resolutions

8 01, 2024

It’s a Holiday Wrap

By |2024-01-07T07:20:52-06:00January 8th, 2024|Holidays, Writer's Life|0 Comments

Our holiday was a whirlwind that became a tsunami with twenty-three gathered before Christmas Day to celebrate and have a first-ever all-of-us picture taken, including our OES who was the best behaved.

Dealing with that many personalities was a challenge. The photographer had her hands full and did a fantastic job. Considering the drama surrounding it, it turned out well.

We all survived and the whole event provided writer me with lots of characterization and conflict ideas for future protagonists.

The tree is undecorated, bundled, and stored in the barn shed to await another year.

The treasured pinecone people and tiny village houses from my grandparents’ home are nestled all snug in their box and stored away in the closet to await next Christmas’s unveiling.

January 1 is the clear-cut start for another trip around the sun. Another 365 opportunities — 366 this year since it’s a leap year — to pause and think about how we can best use our time in this new year.

That usually means making resolutions or setting goals.

According to Forbes.com, New Year goals include quit smoking, fitness, finances, mental health, diet,  work-life balance, more time for loved ones, learning a new skill, drinking less, meditating more, and traveling more. All of these are admirable goals and intentions.

The sad fact is most goals and resolutions will fail miserably and fail quickly. Statistics on how long New Year’s goals last do not put the New Year tradition in a favorable light.

Most goals will fail within 3-4 months. Only one percent of goals last twelve months. So, you’re not alone if your intentions peter out.

Give yourself grace when you do fail, “The beauty of goal setting is you don’t need a ball drop or cannons of confetti to signal a fresh start—you can recommit to your resolutions at any time.”

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again, to paraphrase a song lyric.

Me, I’m going simple for 2024. Only one goal. Finish my new romantic suspense, DEAD BODY GIRL.

Frankly, I’m more than ready to settle into an imaginary world where the writer is in charge. 2023 is good and well gone, holiday stress is over. Time to move into 2024 with all its promise and clean pages.

What about you? Any goals or resolutions?

31 01, 2022

No New Year Resolutions for Me

By |2022-01-30T10:04:23-06:00January 31st, 2022|A Writer's Life, Writer's Life|1 Comment

After everything that happened in 2020, I had so wanted 2021 to be our return to normalcy. There were moments, but normal didn’t happen.

We had even more COVID variants to put up with. Plus, we lost Betty White and Alex Trebek. Not a good year at all. I was more than happy to turn my calendar and head into a new year.

January always feels like a second chance, a time for fresh starts. To begin again with resolutions for changes, if not in the world, then in ourselves.

Bloggers offer plenty of ideas for resolutions. I usually prepare a goal-setting blog or two myself. Not this year. No blog and no list of personal goals for me this year.

Why? Because resolutions are notoriously unsuccessful. Life always gets in the way. I’m trying something different this year.

I haven’t liked what I’ve seen in the world in the last two years. I haven’t laughed a lot. Some days I haven’t even smiled.

Instead of making a resolutions list, I intend to laugh more in 2022. While I can’t change the past, I’m counting on humor to get me through the present.

I know there will be new challenges in 2022. According to experts, China’s “gift” to the world is entering the endemic phase. That means COVID is never going away. The good news is, having survived the last two years, we have an arsenal to combat an endemic.

Will laughter solve all the issues we face? Of course not.

But laughter will increase oxygen intake and stimulate our heart, lungs, and muscles. Most importantly, laughter will increase the endorphins that activate and relieve stress responses.

In today’s world, that’s a win-win.

11 01, 2021

That Time of Year Again

By |2021-01-09T13:12:37-06:00January 11th, 2021|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

2020 is gone at last. It’s time to face a new year and make new year’s resolutions.

Resolutions to do this or that, don’t do well for me. BUT I do like goals. Goals solidify intangibles into tangible. To-do lists have always governed my personal life.

When I taught, goals, called lesson objectives, were an integral part of my days. Once I quit teaching, transitioning lesson goals to my writing career was a logical, easy progression.

A pandemic and civil unrest in our 2020 world caused my goals to fluctuate, some to fail. There were days I struggled to simply focus. I think we all did.

We’re a week into 2021 and it’s been a doozy of a week. While I didn’t expect what used to be normal would magically materialize on January 1, I did hope for a better year. Unfortunately, this first week was a reminder that we –you, me, this country– still have a bumpy road ahead.

As a writer, I view 2021 as a book with blank pages to fill any way we want. No goal plan required, but it could help. Whether you choose to write resolutions or specific, measurable goals or fly uncharted ahead with nothing at all planned, that’s up to you.

Me, I’m setting writing year goals/objectives. Personally, I’m determined to hang onto hope.

Hope fuels creativity.

Hope motives through the dismal days.

Hope is a choice that requires courage and action. With hope, we find a well from which to draw grace and kindness for daily living.

Juliet Marillier’s 2013 New Year’s blog post, directed toward writers, is filled with ideas for finding focus. What she labels focus, I’m calling hope. I especially like her #9:

Breathing.

Step away from your screen regularly. Go outside, look at something beautiful and breathe slowly for a few minutes. You live in the real world; it is the source of your inspiration. Honour and respect it with all its flaws.”

Finding Hope on Psychology Today’s blog suggests:

Turn to your faith.

Your faith can be a strong ally in holding on to hope. Sometimes your faith offers the support of not being alone and trusting that a higher power is with you. If you are questioning your beliefs, then talk with someone in your faith whom you respect. Others have encountered difficult times, and they will understand. Voicing your questions is a step toward resolving your confusion and also a step toward hope.”

I believe grace and kindness are what we’re gonna need to weather this new year 2021 . It’s starting out to be another 2020-version 01. Find your well of hope.

11 01, 2016

Challenges, not resolutions

By |2016-01-11T08:29:02-06:00January 11th, 2016|Make Me Think Monday|2 Comments

resolutionsJanuary blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts are overloaded with advice and suggestions for resolutions and ways to achieve your goals for New Year. I’m going to join the crowd, but with a twist.

I’m not calling these resolutions because a whopping 80% of us fail within the first thirty days when we make resolutions.

There are three hundred and fifty-five days  left in 2016 so I’m challenging you to pick one or more of the four suggestions below. Suggestions that I think you will find easily achievable, unlike resolutions.

~Learn one new thing

I read that Steve Jobs studied calligraphy for the beauty and artistry of the technique. Jobs admitted calligraphy wasn’t the most pragmatic thing he’d ever done  Yet his calligraphy experience deeply influenced his design work at Apple.

So what new thing peaks your curiosity? Give it a try. Whatever your thing is doesn’t have to be practical or even useful. Point is learning something totally new might lead you down paths you never dreamed.

~Volunteer

Preferably on a project outside your comfort zone.

Maybe assist at the local food bank, mentor at your neighborhood elementary school, be a timer for Special Olympics, serve at a soup kitchen, or read to a senior citizen. You’ll meet new people, learn about areas outside your expertise, and, I’m quite sure, discover insights about yourself.

~Read 3 books

No stipulations about length or titles, fiction or non-fiction. Browse your favorite independent bookstore, hop on Amazon, or get a free library card. I think you’ll discover the choices are endless.

Personally, I recommend a classic, a fiction genre you don’t always read, and a non-fiction, but whatever your selections, choose ones that will make you think or inspire you. You might just rekindle a long-lost love of reading or discover a newfound one.

~Schedule One Unplugged Weekend

Technology rules our lives. I get it. Cell phones are an outgrowth of our hands. We’re constantly logged on, tuned in, 24/7. All that being on line can lead to burnout.

Step away from your devices for one entire weekend. I think you’ll find, technology free time will stave off exhaustion, and most likely lead to a creative and more energized you.

These are only suggestions. If you accept my challenge, I believe you can change you and your world.

Let me know how you do.

12 01, 2015

What’s ahead? What was behind?

By |2015-01-12T06:00:55-06:00January 12th, 2015|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

January is the time for making resolutions for the New Year. Resolutions  never works for me. Too vague.New Year's Resolutions, list of items

If you read this blog regularly, you know I’m big on measurable goal setting and AARs.

However, if you are one of those who does make resolutions and need some hints and tips, check out this blog.

No resolutions for me this year, but I have done my yearly ARR– after action review – and posted my 2015 goals to my accountability group.

I was pleasantly surprised during my review to discover 2014 was a good goal year.

finishedAll the work on our house was completed. Landscaping changed the mountains of dirt from the remodel and addition to flower gardens and lovely walks. We ended the year with the hammers and saws stopped and the workers are all gone.

Goal success.

I managed two releases Claiming Annie’s Heart and When Love Blooms.    You can find both at all major on line book retailers for your e-readers or paperback.

2014 books

Unfortunately, my writing goal was to release three books.     Goal failure.

Yep! That’s the thing about goals. Sometimes we’re spot on. Sometimes we do all we can and fall short. Trouble is without goals we lack focus and too frequently flounder aimlessly.

We need to set goals then analyze why we fail AND why we succeed.

Not hard for me to know why my third book didn’t materialize. Last November I fell while playing Pickleball and broke my right wrist. Typing became, and still is, slow and sometimes painful.

I’m not beating myself up too much over the goal bust since what happened was a circumstance beyond my control. Well, mostly.

There are those who have aptly pointed out, trying to be athletic at this stage in my life maybe be a foolish goal and suggest I might want to eliminate such activity in the future instead of risking more injuries. I’ve taken the suggestion under consideration.

We’re twelve days into 2015. It’s cold, rainy, freezing in Texas. Colorado is sunny, bright, and snowless. Not the norm.Seems to me this is going to be a crazy year based on the start of things.

I’ve set my goals for the New Year and I’m going full speed ahead. What about you?

Let’s check back together this time next year and seem how we’ve done on our resolutions and goals.

6 01, 2014

Bye, bye 2013!

By |2014-01-06T06:00:03-06:00January 6th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

2013-20142013 is gone.

2014 is six days old.

A new year signals the time for goals, resolutions, and predictions.

I’m a goal setter. Last year I shared a blog about how I set my yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily SMART goals. You can check out my method specifics here.

This year I’ve read several great blogs with ideas for how to be successful in 2014.

After reading Joe Bunting’s If You Want to Have a Great 2014, Spend an Hour Doing This, I knew the topic for my first blog of 2014.

AARs (After Action Review)  are already a major component of my goal-setting method so following Bunting’s advice works well for me. Click here if you aren’t sure what an AAR is.

So without further ado, here is my 2013 in review (with AARs):

Writing: My second novel, Love in the Morning Calm released in November. For a list of all my books on Amazon, click here.

AAR for novel writing: It’s taking too long to get the stories out there! I need to write faster.

I wrote 143 blog posts, which drew 6,400 views and 96 followers. According to WordPress, my blog visitors came from 113 countries.

AAR for blog writing: Thank you, blog readers for stopping by now and then.

Travel: My husband and I traveled to Ireland with a tour. The idea was to research my book set in Ireland that will coming out this year. Traveling with twenty-six other delightful people does not leave much time for writing research.

AAR on overseas travel tours: Guess we’ll have to plan another trip.

Not exactly travel, but major locales change. We sold our Houston, Texas, home of thirty-three years and moved to our summer home in Colorado.

AAR on our move: Loving it!

Around the house: Life has been crazy since our move with projects! We remodeled our little cabin and added a garage, which is still not complete.

AAR on home improvement projects: Patience, patience, patience.

Life in General: We survived the June 2013wildfire in the Rio Grande National Forest. We are so thankful. So many lost homes and lives in Colorado wildfires last year.

My dear sweet aunt, a shining light in my life, went to heaven to join her husband, her parents, and her sister. Her passing brought home the reality of mortality and established me as the oldest living relative on my maternal side. Now that’s a sobering thought!

AAR on life: Cherish every moment!

Whether you choose to end the old year by setting goals or making resolutions or reviewing your accomplishments, I wish you a 2014 filled with success and happiness.

Thanks for starting your New Year with me.

YOUR TURN: So how was your 2013?

To celebrate 2014, I’m offering a free copy of Love in the Morning copy to one lucky commenter.

Go to Top