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To begin with, this:

Neil Gaiman's New Year's Post

and also, this:

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

Last year’s resolutions were good ones. Solid. Achievable. Measurable. However, I did not meet as many of
them as I’d hoped. With some, I managed to be half successful. Some I missed altogether. Here’s last year’s list,
for your amusement and for mine:  
2011 New Year's Resolutions

This year, in keeping with Mr. Gaiman’s advice, I’m going to make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. Tons of them. I’m
going to make a fool of myself making mistakes. Kinda scary… But that’s going to be my goal: Make messy,
amazing mistakes. Be afraid.

With that in mind, here are my goals for 2012:

Personal Resolutions

Travel – We took no major trips in 2011, sad to say. Various factors including the price of gasoline kept us from
taking our 12-state road trip last summer, and every other trip we planned got bumped and slashed and back-
burnered.

This year, we’ve had to be a bit more aggressive with our savings, but we have managed to secure airfare to
London and a lovely flat in Notting Hill for a Spring Break trip to the UK. Great Britain, prepare to be invaded!

Television - Last year, in regards to television viewing, we were doing well until along came American Idol. My
hour-and-a-half of TV viewing became two hours until James Durbin exited the stage, and then I foreswore the
show forever. That is a promise to which I’ll be sticking. I have no perspective when it comes to reality TV, so
it’s best avoided altogether. Katya stuck with her less than 90 minutes of TV goal, so she gets a plus in that
category (if we were keeping score; which we totally are). We kept up with
Glee each week once AI had run
its course…

Then summer hit and we discovered
Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Merlin on Netflix. Curse you BBC! Obviously, we
have to strike a balance here. Luckily, we’ve watched everything on Netflix. Unluckily, we’re now hooked on
three new shows!

Therefore, we will have to use our Telly Time wisely. I’m setting a goal for two hours of TV watching during the
week, with the addendum of extra time allowed during the weekend.

Reading Goal – Rocked this one two years in a row. My goal this year was 40 books; I read 42 (Here’s my
BookList.) This year, my goal will again be 40 because that seems both reasonable and enjoyable. I’ll post a
Year-In-Review this weekend as well, because I read a lot of good books this year. There will be
recommendations. Oh yes.

Health Resolutions

A mixed bag of successes and failures in this category from 2010 to 2011. While I wasn’t as sedentary in 2011 as
I was in 2010, I didn’t lose the weight I’d gained (I didn’t gain any either; that’s nice) and my exercise routine
is about as gaping as Smeagol’s teeth. I did participate in the Cap10K, but I only ran about half of it. Over the
Summer, I used the Couch-2-5K app on my iPod to get up to running 4K without stopping. Then school began
and I got sick. Really, really sick. Sick for a month. Then it got cold, then the holidays… blah blah. See above,
re: Mixed bag.

This year, I’m going to combine the Couch-2-5K app with yoga at least twice a week to lose the eleven pounds
I’ve gained since 2009. I have work-out/diet buddies, too: Matt and Felicia, we are in this together! The Couch-
2-5K app is a 9 week program, which means I should complete it by March 8th if I start it now. The Capital 10K
is March 25th. This is a good plan. Anyone with me?

As for the diet… I have never felt better health-wise than when I was on the Paleo diet. It’s a challenge to
maintain because there are many off-limits foods, but I am again going to try to implement it. The diet allows
for three splurges each week, too. I’ve already started my food diary in preparation for the diet
disembarkation. Eleven pounds in nine weeks. We shall see.

Career Resolutions


Again, mixed success and failure in this category. I wrote a ton in 2011, but most of it has been on the
computer, not in my speckled compositions journals. I still pack one around with me, just in case, but my
entire NaNo novel, two short stories, and all 30 Poem-A-Day poems found their home here, on my Lappy. I do
have a writing goal, and that is to write 2,000 words each week. Whether that’s on the computer or in a
journal, it matters not. What matters is that I continue to write.

Where I failed last year was in submitting work, both mine and Katrina’s. She’s got two more short stories
ready to submit; I’ve got a semi-edited novel and a couple of short stories to work on as well. I’m stuck here.
Maybe this is where the frightening mistakes can come in?

So, my goal this year is to keep writing 2,000 a week. I have a pet project I’m writing, a romantic comedy about
a single mom trying to date. This is a gift for Amber, my cousin, because she is a great person and has a great
laugh, and for my roommate and best friend, Matt, who likes the stories I write.

I also wrote a
Doctor Who novel in November for NaNoWriMo. I’ll be posting new chapters each week to The
Chambered Heart
, and the link for that is right here: The Cosmos Within

As for Katrina’s writing, I’ll continue searching for a venue for her stories. She’s not old enough for most
contemporary magazines, and she’s too old for
Stone Soup… Maybe I should launch a magazine for stories
written by teens? Hmmm….

In summary, (I feel like I need a chart or animated graphic of some sort):

Travel – Go to London, baby!

TV – Two hours a week during school weeks

Reading – 40 books

Fitness – Lose 11 pounds; complete Couch-2-5K program

Diet – Paleo diet, with three splurges a week

Writing – 2,000 words a week, Poem-A-Day in April, NaNoWriMo in November, continue to post
The Cosmos
Within
, find a venue for Katrina’s stories

Guiding principle: Follow Neil Gaiman’s advice and do scary things that might not work out. Awesome! Happy
New Year, everyone. May 2012 be blessed.
2012 New Year's
Resolutions
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