WHAT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION?

New Year’s What????

 

It’s the middle of January and I have a confession to make. I have already broken my New Year’s resolution. I’m proud to admit I did manage to stick to my declaration longer than I have in past years. Doesn’t that count for something? Probably not. Do I feel guilty? Nah. After all, resolutions are made to be broken? Or did I misread the memo on that?

I know I am not the only person on the planet who can’t seem to stick to a promise made in one fervent moment of celebration on New Year’s Eve. I don’t even drink, and still I managed to declare my undying pledge to walk along the path of self-betterment. Like most people, I have a tendency to pick ridiculous goals I know will never be met.

Lose a million pounds.

Exercise more.

Visit the parents more often.

Don’t yell at the kids so much.

Keep the house clean.

Do any of these sound familiar? The simple, but impossible to maintain a full year, list goes on and on. We’d be better off vowing to gain no more than five pounds extra during the year ahead. How about pledging to walk the dog one block longer? That counts as exercise. Ask your parents to keep the kids more often. (This accomplishes two resolutions at once! The kiddos aren’t home to yell at, and you can wave goodbye to the parental units when you drop off the kids.) Keep the house clean—well, you got me there. I don’t really have an alternative for that one.

Having failed multiple times at all of the above resolutions, I chose to become more productive with my writing this year. I even outlined a specific plan. See how organized I am? No playing on FB or other types of social media between the hours of 10am and 5pm. I decided I’d plop my butt in my comfy writer’s chair by 9am sharp, answer urgent emails and play on FB one hour, then buckle down to work on my WIP. Okay, stop laughing…it almost worked.

The first week of January, I traveled and took down Christmas decorations—the tree wasn’t coming down by itself, you know. Anyway, I decided that wasn’t the best time to start making improvements to my less than stellar work habits. The second week of January, I put into motion my master plan to self-betterment. I did great. I stuck with the blueprint and worked on my current manuscript until 5pm every day—weekends not included. Afterwards, I’d go home, eat dinner, and clean up the mess. The rest of the evening was spent playing on Face Book, and catching up on the emails I’d deemed earlier could wait till evening for replies. I was succeeding! Plus, I was doing it all from the comfort of the cushy recliner parked in front of the television. Yay me!

Now you may be wondering what could have happened to the simple, but awesome New Year’s resolution I made? I’m not really sure. It’s kind of like the Kennedy assassination. I’ll never have an answer until I die. All I know is yesterday morning I got in front of my computer and played for the allotted hour. I grabbed a cup of coffee, sat back down, and proceeded to play for another hour. Then another.

Okay, I decided, one day of oopsies would not defeat my goal for the year.

At 9am this morning I took my seat, determined to stick to my one hour of sanctioned social media. Now it’s almost 3pm and here I am, another broken resolution later. I haven’t even opened my WIP (work in progress). I’m pretty sure I’m writing this post to avoid working on my manuscript. Will I attempt a do-over tomorrow? Take a Mulligan? Not likely.

At the end of the day, I’ve come to a well-grounded decision. My New Year’s resolution from now on will be to not make New Year’s resolutions. I will live my life the way I always have and just keep trying to make each day I’m blessed with, better than the one before.

New Year’s, along with my doomed resolution for 2014, is over for me and it’s time to prepare for the next holiday. I think I’ll skip over the celebration of ground hogs across the globe and anxiously await the arrival Valentine’s Day.

In honor of romance around the world, and to celebrate the print release of Resolutions, I’m posting a new contest. The prize will be a $50 gift certificate for you and your honey to put towards a dinner for two. You’ll receive chocolate because Valentine’s Day is not complete without it. Of course you’ll need a sexy smelling candle, body oil, and bottle of bubble bath to match. Mmm, there’s nothing like a long, candlelight soak with your lover!

Oh, and best of all, you’ll win a signed copy of Resolutions.

For a chance to win the basket of goodies, all you have to do is sign up for my newsletter. Your email address will not be shared.

*Sorry, the prize is for US mailing addresses only.*