Monday, January 3, 2011

2011 Resolution Hit List


Like most people I know, at the beginning of every new year, I usually think about all the ways I should improve myself. I made my list but I wanted to see how my resolutions stacked up to other people's. According to recent polls, the top resolution this year is to spend more time with family and friends. As a full time writer and stay-at-home wife/mother, I've got that one in the bag.

Next in the polls was making time for fitness. Although I'm guilty of slacking lately, I usually manage to get to the gym four or five times a week, so I need to tighten up on that one (literally). And after all my holiday season indulgences, a few extra workouts are definitely in order. Because we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas at my house, I had double excuses to indulge. Now I have double the extra work at the gym.

Third on the list for the American public is quitting smoking. Nailed that one about fifteen years ago, thank goodness. If you're a smoker, please put this one at the top of your resolutions. Get help -- from your doctor, a support group or loved ones. As a former smoker, I'm one of the most vigilant anti-smokers out there. Just ask my sister and her husband. I pester them to quit on a regular basis.

Other popular resolutions this year are to lower one's stress level, quit drinking, get out of debt and to learn something new. My main source of stress will turn eighteen at the end of the year. I can hang in there until then;-) I don't drink much or often and although debt isn't a big issue for me, I would like to resolve to save more. Learn something new - I'll have to work on that one.

As a writer, I will add that I'd like to up my productivity. All I have to do is look to my uber-productive critique partner, Savannah. If I can write half as many words as she, I'll be doing great.

Just for grins, I checked out my post a year ago when I listed my goals for 2010. I surpassed some - instead of contracting four short stories/novellas and one full length, I contracted six short ones and two full length manuscripts. Yeah! I can't say if I met my word count goal because I failed to keep track of it as I'd hoped. I did get organized enough to track submissions and royalties, though. So overall, I think I did pretty well.

Any resolutions you'd like to share. Throw them out there into the blogosphere and put the pressure on to achieve them. I'm just sayin...


10 comments:

Michelle Polaris said...

Always an appropos question at the beginning of January. I went low key on resolutions this year and officially decided to skip them. However, I thought about being nicer to my mother and how I need to keep working on writing more. I can't do word counts. That would never work for me. But writing at least one sentence a day is attainable don't you think? Setting the bar low lets me excel. I promise I'll write more than 365 sentences before 2011 is over. LOL. Happy New Year!

Wynter said...

LOL! Yeah - a sentence a day should allow you to over-achieve!

True Life and Fiction said...

Resolutions? I like to keep them as short and simple as possible. I find that if I set my expectations extremely low, I will always surpassed my own goals!

Wynter said...

JL - that seems to be the consensus so far. I admit I do that to some degree. I rarely make a goal I can't easily attain or surpass.

Savannah Stuart said...

My goals are very simple this year (unlike last year). I have to finish my third contracted paranormal single title and I also want to write a category style romance and a paranormal novella (not erotic). This year my erotic romance output is going to be substantially less. (or at least that's what I foresee). Since I'm having a baby in July I'm trying to pack all the productivity I can into these next few months b/c I know for the couple months afterward I'll be in adjustment mode :)

Wynter said...

Wow - those sound like pretty heavy duty goals, Savannah. That's smart to get as much as you can done BB (before baby).

Terry Odell said...

Thanks for showing us where we stand in relation to the rest of the country. I need to figure out a new fitness regime now that I'm no longer near a fitness center. Walking in my neighborhood is an excellent workout, but real winter weather --- well, I'm not ready to venture out on a lot of days. An exercise bike is on my wish list.

Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery

Wynter said...

I used to have a stationary bike, Terry. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one so I rarely used it. I hope you get a good one!

Dalton Diaz said...

I have 2 attainable goals this year. 1) Lose and maintain loss of 10 lbs
2) Sell to EC and expand my publisher list.

Wynter said...

Simple yet worthy. Good plan.