Resolutions for the Double Uno

Last year I only made one resolution because it was the one thing I desperately wanted to focus on. It was: Write daily.

Well, I did it. No matter how exhausted, peeved, or uninspired I was I wrote something. Sometimes the words just flowed. Other times, usually after deadline at the newspaper,  I struggled to get out the obligatory sentence before crawling into bed.

This year I'm going for more...

1. Write daily - I'm going for this one again. It was an awesome exercise last year, and it helped me to get a lot done. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid begrudgingly opening a word document at  midnight or later when all I want to do is sleep, but if that's what I have to do then I'll do it. Bring the pain.

2. Be an early riser - Mornings and I do not get along. I know you wouldn't believe this for the number of time I've dragged myself out of bed at three or four in the morning to get in the car and go to events, but I will take any opportunity I can get an extra five minutes of sleep. My goal is to be up by 6:30 a.m. on weekdays. The benefit of this is that getting to work early on non-deadline days means I get to leave early.

3. Finish the novel. - Yes, I'm making it official. If I say it publicly then it's real. It's out there. The novel that has been malingering for months will be done in 2011. It's close right now, but I'm determined to have the ending done by March 1. (Oh boy. I just set a date, didn't I?)

4. Schedule more blog posts. - Even if I have content well in advance of the day I plan to post a blog I will wait until the night before to actually format it in Blogger. This year I'll be making a concerted effort to prepare a bit more and schedule posts in an effort to make better use of the time that I have.

5. Remember how to write real letters. - In a week one of my best friends, Monica from Bibliophilic Book Blog, leaves for Korea. She's being shipped out to do her super-secret military duty elsewhere and I'm going to miss her so much! My plan is to write her  lots of letters during the year she's away. No, not emails. Real, handwritten letters. I'm leery of setting a number, but two letters a month seems reasonable.  

6. Exercise more and lose weight. - I'm not setting a hard and fast goal on weight loss because I haven't made a real, focused attempt at exercise since I started having problems with my ankles swelling and popping. I can say that the goal is to exercise three times a week, which means I have to be at the gym by 7 a.m. and back home by 8a.m. so I can get to work on time. As far as the actual weight loss I'd like to by 20 lbs. lighter be BEA.

That's it for now. I'm spending this weekend getting my house, my books, my writing files, and everything else organized so that I can start the first full week of the new year off in style. It's time for a new less frazzled, more organized me.