Happy New Year!

Wow! 2010! Wasn’t it only last year we were back in the 90’s somewhere? Guess not! It is true that the older you get, the faster the time goes by.

I don’t know about you, but I gave up on “resolutions” a long time ago. I have learned that trying to made radical changes to your lifestyle on January 1st just because it begins a new year is impractical and lasts until somewhere around the 15th if you’re lucky.

So, I’ve traded the word “resolution” for the word “goals”. Even goals are no good unless they are tangible, and as we say at work, measurable. To say “I’m going to write more this year” is just too general and, frankly, lets me “skate by”. So, I need to get specific, be accountable, and probably do what I hardly ever do, which is write down what I expect to accomplish every week, or at least every month.

This is an exciting year for me because I have committed to some new projects, and people are depending on me to follow through. First of all, I am now an employee (paid in experience at this point, but that’s okay), of Written World Communications. My position is editor to Starsongs Magazine, a general market magazine for young people, written by young people. It’s an exciting challenge for me and one that I accept with eager anticipation. It will challenge my creativity in a new way and allow me to mentor young people who express an interest in publication.

I am currently involved in a class at church that explores our spiritual gifts, what they are and how we can use them within our church. As a result of that, I have agreed to coordinate our church newsletter. I look forward to this as another opportunity to be creative, to improve my writing skills, and to encourage others within our congregation to contribute as well.

The President of the residential child care facility where I work has mentioned that he would like to talk with me about writing for their quarterly newsletter, so I look forward to that opportunity.

It is my sincere hope that I will find more time this year to post on my blog with a bit more frequency than in the past. I’d like to gain a few more followers. Maybe as Starsongs takes shape, I will focus my posts on helping young people develop their writing skills.

The novels I’ve been working on forever, it seems, are always on my mind. I hope my crit group can resume the schedule we had established prior to the holidays. It kept me on track and made me accountable. (waving to ladies of crit groups 7 & 51). Sometimes I wonder if I’m truly meant to complete a novel. I remember telling a friend “if I don’t have a novel published by 1990, I’ll just give up on that idea.” Good grief, that was twenty years ago! I also remember the response. “Never give up!” So far, I haven’t.

Whatever I accomplish this year, writing or otherwise, my main goal is to see that I glorify God and always seek His will.

Here’s wishing all my readers a happy, healthy, prosperous, and very blessed 2010!

Thanks for reading my blog.