New Years is Here

Ok, it is new years day and resolutions abound. I am determined to keep a few of them this year. Of course there are the obvious: exercise more, eat better, etc. But I am also going to try to be better at attending church. I have not been able to go much this past year because of my work schedule but now that my church is rotating to a slightly later hour I am so stoked to be able to go back. I have missed it and the guidance and peace that I feel from being there. I am also going to finish one of my stories this year. I know which story I want to work on so while I am at work tonight, in my downtime I am going to create a schedule for me to keep on track. I am actually kind of excited about it. This may be a weird secret to confess but I get a very gratifying sense of pleasure from making lists and getting to cross things off when accomplished. Kind of quirky, but each day I will get a little piece of paper from a note pad that is magnetized to my fridge and I will make a list of each area that needs to be cleaned, categorized by room.
Kitchen
- clean dishes
- wipe off counters
- sweep floor
- vacuum rug
- mop floor

Living Room
- vacuum
- dust
- straighten couch cushions

Bedroom
- make beds
- vacuum
- dust

My lists go on and on. These are just a sample. And I have a bigger MASTER LIST taped to my fridge that organizes cleaning activities by day, week, month, bi-annually, and yearly.
I don't seem to be able to actually clean my house until I have my list. I will just sit on my couch where I can look at my living room and into my kitchen, surveying my domain, and say, I really should clean. But once I get my list all written out the cleaning seems to fly by. Is this odd?
So... applying this principle to my new years resolutions I am going to take this evening and create lists for my goals for the new year. Wish me luck!

Looking toward a New Year

Well, Christmas is over and it's on to a whole season dedicated to fresh starts. I am going to try to finish something I write. I know that I have said that many many times but this just feels exciting. I had a great dream the night before last that I am trying to incorporate into an idea that I have for a story my dad has been bugging me to write. Fingers crossed right?

Early Resolutions

I have decided to create a new blog. I have one that I do with my family where we each post pictures and stories of what we are doing with our lives since we are spread across the country but I have decided that I wanted one for myself. I was at work tonight thinking of my New Years Resolutions and what I might want to set as goals. A big goal in my life for a long time has been to write a novel. I tried, unsuccessfully, to do the NaNoWriMo this past November with mixed results. I found out that there is no shortage of story inside of me. When I sat down with my laptop I could easily churn out my goal of 2k words a day. The problem that I ran into was that I never created time for myself to actually sit down and write. Much like finding time to go to the gym. It's something I want to do but struggle with finding a time when I feel like I can go. I know a big problem that I have is that I work graves. Yup. I work from 1900 (7 p.m.) to 0500 (5 a.m) By the time I wake up - between noon and 1p.m. usually - get ready, clean my house a little and play with my son, which has become more and more demanding of my FULL attention now that the cold weather and snow leaves us mostly house-bound, there is very little down time before I make dinner and leave for work. Where do I put it? Do I indulge in some pampering by getting to do some fun activity like reading or crafting? Do I get online and try to find fun learning activities for my son so he doesn't get raised by the television? Do I go to the gym? Yardwork? Home improvement? Visit with friends and family? The list seems insurmountable some days. On my nights off, since I can't seem to go to sleep earlier than 3 am no matter how hard I try, I snuggle up in my comforter and catch up on all my tv shows I have tivo'd during the week. And I know that t.v. should be the first thing to go in sacrifice to ART but I love my Criminal Minds and Bones. I have digressed just a bit here. The point I was trying to make is that I am going to start this blog as an early resolution to trying to create better habits with writing. I figure if I can get in the habit of posting on this blog regularly it will not be that far of a step toward creating the time to write. What do you think? Worth a shot right?