as i said in my writing blog: new year's a-comin'; i can feels it in me bones...

Do you make resolutions? I totally don't. For ages, I tried, only to fail within a few days or a few weeks, and I think it's because it's too big: in this one moment, I'll make plans that will change my whole life and everything will be awesome from here on in? No way. Too hard.

So I instead, I think of myself and my life as a work in progress. Each month is a new beginning, each Monday is a chance to get back on track. I know exactly where I want to get to*; it's just this pesky in-between-ness that's causing problems, so as I go, I check back every once in a while and try to figure out how to get closer to the place I want to be. Life is a journey and all that. My map is just sort of missing chunks of the landscape.

But I still feel that... pull, maybe, when a year is switching over. I want the new year to be better than the old. 2009 was full of sickness and poorness and unemployment and stress, and one of my friends' sister is dying, and I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I want, and my savings are entirely decimated. This is a sucky place to be. So 2010 will be better. By sheer force of will, it will be better. I mean, it's Twenty-Ten. That's the way you say the years of the Future, so it's got to be better.

I'm going to diversify my writing, and do so more often, with the help of various new professional memberships I'll be getting, and gradschool, and a year at ICFA where I don't have to worry about presenting a paper.

I'm going to get back in shape (because the six pounds I lost were gained right back through Thanksgiving), and I'm going to go back to eating healthier.

I'm going to save money as much as I can and work on my habit of spending money that really should be put away. Hopefully the writing will help me get that under control. Any new sources of income will be much appreciated, and I've been throwing around the idea that maybe I can buy stocks. All the prices are down right now, but the upswing is on the horizon, and maybe I can get in on that if I can find some steady stocks that people will still need, even if the economy stays crap.

And it'll be better.

*I have details and shading that's a whole other post on it's own, but here's the gist: full-time writer before I'm too old, so I can enjoy being young and not working retail; my own dream house on a hill with a beautiful garden and a view of moving water; a tall beautiful husband or three and several smart and healthy kids; enough renown to be recognizable (students writing papers about my work, people asking me to write for their books, stuff like that); free money that's plentiful enough to travel frequently.