I always approach New Year’s resolutions with a great deal of caution. It’s so easy to get swept up in the frenzy of goal-making (that has be done by NYE, or else you lose that magical window of time or something) and overreach. Two mistakes I’ve made setting yearly goals in the past are:

1. Not being flexible enough. Often I’ve started the year off convinced that my big writing project should be “Shepherdesses in Saskatoon”, when, really, by June I’m starting to suspect I’d be better off working on “The Lovelorn Laundress”. Or perhaps my enthusiasm for creating illuminated letters has waned and I’d rather be crocheting snowflakes.

Sometimes my goals live me no wiggle room in terms of time. “Write a novel in a month” might be doable for some people–including many many NaNoWriMo winners *grin*–but realistically? It’s not good goal for a homeschooling mom of three who’s trying to sell her house, and likes her sleep and her husband, thank you very much.

2. Taking giant leaps, instead of small steps. Often, resolutions fall by wayside because they were overambitious in the first place. If you’ve been writing in drips and drabbles over the past several months, it’s very hard to start writing two thousand words a day once January 1st rolls around. And if you’ve committed to some big daily goal, the first couple of times you miss it, you fall so far behind that it’s easy to give up altogether. Baby steps build habits.

As I’ve pondered what I want to change this next year, I realize that what I really need is intentionality–to prioritize all that I have in my life, and to focus my energies on the things that are most important to me. I need to eliminate the clutter in my life, and work on creating good habits that will carry me through Life Stuff and be such a part of my routine that I do them without even thinking about it.

I usually post about writing resolutions on this blog, but this year I’ve realized that I need to do other things first, which will prepare the soil for my writing to grow and flourish. So, while writing is on the list *grin*, you have to scroll down to get to it.

So this year, I resolve to focus on and build good habits in the following areas:

Prayer and meditation. Faith is the bedrock of my life. Going without talking to God and listening for Him every day is a recipe for a tired, drained and cranky me, with nothing to give to anyone or anything.

Exercise and healthy diet. Alas, my post-thirty body isn’t able to shed the fat as easily as my 20s body did. But more than just being able to fit into my old jeans again, I want to be healthy, fit, and have energy. So I can, you know, enjoy life and do the things I want to and that are good for me.

Watching five episodes of 24 in a row is probably not one of those things.

The “get healthier” plan consists of portion control, breaking the post-dinner snacking habit (*siiiiigh*), learning that I do not need to say “Yes” to very piece of dessert that bats its eyelashes at me, getting out for a brisk walk as often as I can (challenging, since like the groundhog, I’d prefer to hibernate all winter) and finding some sort of exercise video/class/magic pill/spell that works for me. Still working on the details for that last one.

My family. It might be funny to hear a homeschooling mom say this, but I want to focus on spending more time with my children. More time playing Bananagrams and Go Fish, reading non-school books, doing practical things together like cleaning up and folding laundry… things that don’t involve workbooks and index cards. My 3yo, the non-schooling child, would like some attention, too, in the mornings.

My patient husband also deserves more attention. And, no, watching 24 together doesn’t cut it.

Eliminate the time-wasters. Stuff that doesn’t get used, but that I still have to clean, pick up, put away. So-so books that aren’t more than mildly enjoyable. And the Internet, oh the Internet! Flame wars and train wrecks and rabbit trails and tangents and cool websites and an RSS feed a mile long and… and… So much of the time, I’m a spectator, not a participant. So when I’m online, I resolve to use my time learning and interacting.

Writing! Finally! I resolve to build good writing habits. 700 words a day is my goal when I’m working on a rough draft, otherwise I’ll spend time doing writing exercises, brainstorming, or revising. If I miss a day, I will not beat myself up or try to catch up; instead I’ll get back in the saddle. I’ve got a bunch of projects in the pipeline, and I’ve put the top few on Sticky Notes to keep them at the front of my mind. If I hit on a block on one story, I have other stories I can work on.

And I’m determined to be consistent with keeping up with this blog (I’m even taking a class to help me, eek). Plan is to post M-W-F.

Reading. More non-fiction and classics. I make this resolution every year. Someday it’ll stick. Perhaps.

Additional reading:

Dean Wesley Smith on Life Happens, restarting, and failure.

Kristen Lamb on planning for success.

How about you? How do you maximize your chances for success?

I have a number of writing goals for this year, but, for a number of reasons, I’m reluctant to commit myself to specific projects. First, I have a tendency to seriously underestimate the amount of time any given project will take. Secondly, a project that seems right in January might not be so in October, and I don’t want to do something just so that I can tick it off my list. I want an umbrella resolution that will inform my shorter-term writing goals; a framework, with lots of flexibility.

So, what my resolution came down to was not a list of to-dos, but an attitude.

In 2011 I want to work towards treating my writing more seriously, more professionally.

What does this mean to me?

It means being disciplined about writing and creating good habits. It means writing six days a week, hitting a (rather low) minimum wordcount, even when I don’t want to.

It means being more intentional about my project planning, including research, rather than just winging it, as I am prone to.

It means learning to write synopses so I can actually query agents/publishers who require them.

It means following through with a submission plan instead of getting bored/distracted/discouraged a quarter way through and wandering away to do something less painful and ego-bruising.

It means seeking out and utilizing opportunities to sub my work, get feedback, fail, pick myself back up, and go on.

I have micro-goals that fall under one or more of these categories. I have a deadline for writing the first draft of Kai’s book, some submission opportunities to pursue, and a couple of new novel ideas kicking around my head. More on those as the year goes on…

What about you? Any resolutions?

All over the blogosphere, people are posting their New Year’s resolutions: reading challenges; writing goals; blogging and financial and creative and exercise goals–and, hand-in-hand with that, tips for staying the course.

I admit to being a list junkie. I LOVE planning. I love setting and writing down goals. I make lists everywhere–on the whiteboard, in notebooks, on virtual stickies, in Word, on scraps of paper, on the backs of envelopes. Setting goals satisfies my inner control freak, the Grand Vizier of Over-Planning.

However, I approach this latest season of goal-setting with more caution than in the past. The way to 2010 (a New Beginning! a Fresh Start!) is strewn with the shards of past goals, fragile dreams that did not withstand reality. Instead of taking a flying leap into the future, aiming for the stars, my goals for the next year are to keep doing what I’m doing now, but more so and more regularly.

I’m going to read more books than last year (I did make it to 64 last night!), spread over more genres (more on that later).

I’ll write, but I’m setting the bar low: one completed first draft or one complete revision (novels, of course!). I’m not going to chain myself to a story that isn’t working for me just so that my stats look good. I’m giving myself the time to play with my writing, the freedom to abandon projects, the gift of not having to keep my eye on the numbers. Everything else–more novels, short stories, submissions, acceptances–is gravy.

I’m going to get back to my pre-December piano practice levels, and then some.

I’ll continue to homeschool my kiddos, and resist the temptation to get lost in mounds of research and the starry-eyed pursuit of new curricula. The focus this year will be on active teaching, on nurturing a love of learning, on building up the whole child, on character traits as well as academic rigor.

I’ll pursue new avenues to creativity, but keep them light, fun and playful. I’ll draw when I want to, I’ll take pictures when I want to. I’ll work on making this blog better–maybe a new design, finally change that header picture, write better content on a more consistent basis.

2009 had some rough patches and I’m fine seeing it go. Do you have any resolutions for the new year?