About Dreams and Resolutions

So, the bell has chimed for the last time for 2014 and 2015 has come to pick up the slack. Everybody who isn't talking about the Golden Globes is talking about their resolutions for the year that's just begun. Through the years I've learned hard resolutions just don't work for me. Instead of focusing my energy into designing a plan with hard numbers (like, say, "To write X amount of words daily"), I aim at doing better than the year that has just ended.

I appreciate the value some people find in doing such plans or resolutions, and if it works for you then all the more power. However, most people keep kinda recycling the list of things they want to do, but for some reason they just never have accomplished. This practice, in my opinion, discourages people who feel that they will never get these specific goals so why even try. Let's be honest, a writer can never write "the perfect" story, no reader can ever read all the books in their TBR pile, no woman will ever consider herself thin enough, and no human ever will sleep enough, eat healthy enough, or exercise enough. These are empty endeavors, so why not instead measure yourself not against your dreams, but against the actual you?

It is an excellent idea to take this time to pause and weight the good and the bad of the last twelve months. Are you satisfied with the way things went? Where did you go wrong? Where did you go right? These are valuable questions that can help you find out the areas where you need to work, and to celebrate your accomplishments. To write more than last year, read more than last year, and eat less than last year is something doable. To become the next Stephen King and look like Kate Moss by the summer is not.

And so, I kicked off 2015 with very simply, yet challenging plans: To finish my novel's 1st draft, to submit more than ten stories through out the year, to make it to at least one writer's convention, and to read at least 18 books. This will be the year I try to break the genre barrier by submitting to literary journals as well as horror magazines, I'll keep developing my craft by enrolling in a creative writing class/course, and I'll participate in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

So, there. It seems like I'm going to be a very busy writer... because 2014 was totally relaxing! Wish me luck!

What are your plans/resolutions for 2015?