Hey, look – resolutions!!!

That’s right – I finally found the resolutions that I wrote almost two months ago now, and although at first I was thinking about re-writing some of them given what’s transpired over the last seven weeks, going over them a second time I think I’m just going to run with them as-is because I’m actually pretty content with where I am thus far.

I’m not sure if I want to do it every quarter or wait for the six-month mark, but I think this year I’ll do a couple of follow-up posts to track my progress along the way. I’m trying to take these things a little more seriously this year, so fingers crossed…

Career:
Stay On Top of My Writing / Time Management
If you’ve read my last post, it should be obvious that the last few weeks have been pretty important to me. After five years of struggling with it since I moved to Florida back in 2003, I was finally able to get caught up with my writing and get it presentable online, which is a huge accomplishment in and of itself, and also paves the way for my next steps. I don’t really want to spoil them all here, but at the core of everything is the same goal that I’ve been trying in vain to reach for the last five years – stay caught up on my writing. It took me far too long to get to this point – I can’t afford to screw it up now. It’s going to mean a lot better time management than I’ve exercised in the past, but ultimately I think it’ll pay off in areas even beyond my writing career. Focus!

Follow 2009 Business Plan
I sat down about a week ago and started working on a list of everything that I want to do writing-wise in 2009, and now that all of the backlog stuff is behind me, I’m happy to say that I actually think that it should be doable. That’s not to say that there won’t be hiccups along the way, but it’s time to really give this another honest try and see what kind of progress I can make towards writing for a living again. According to the business plan that I wrote out, 2009 could very well be my biggest year since the Just Laugh days … no pressure!

See What Happens!
The tricky part of it all is, I don’t entirely know where the money is on this path yet. I’ve got some educated guesses and I’m going to give it a shot, though, and honestly I think that’s really all that I can do. Follow the plan that I have established, make corrections when something unexpected arises, and just see what happens. There’s no guarantee that I’ll be writing full-time in a year, but there are really no guarantees period. But not to bash the confidence too much because I really think I’ve got some worthwhile ideas on the plate…

Recreation:
Play More Video Games
Despite all of my vacation time over the last two weeks, I barely touched a controller once … which, mind you, is somewhat understandable because I had a really big project that I was finally finishing up. But now that my writing is more or less current, I think I’m going to be in a much better position to finally take some me time and not feel guilty about it afterwards!

Start Playing the Guitar Again
It’s another one of those things that I contemplate doing every year, but never quite get around to it – I’m hoping that just like the video games, having other priorities in check will give me more time to rekindle this long, lost hobby. Besides, I still catch myself fingering chords to songs I hear on the radio or when watching Sara play Guitar Hero – it’s time to start setting aside 15 minutes here and there to see what happens.

Go Do Some New Stuff Around Florida
I feel like amidst all of the hustle and bustle, I’ve kind of fallen into a bit of a routine and even when we do go out, it’s always the exact same things, which is a shame because I know that this area still has so many other things to offer. And thus one of the things I want to try to do this year is get back into exploring – see some of the off-the-path beaches and parks and attractions. Go to a museum. See a concert. Live a little!!!

Relationships:
Make Better Use of My Time with Sara
Time together has been a bit limited over the last year because of school for Sara, and 2009 is going to be part deux of that little saga, but I know we can both agree that we want to try to do a little better with what free time we can muster up going into the new year. It’s still going to be really tough, between Sara juggling school and her job and me juggling my job and the rebirth of my writing career, but regardless, we’ve got to figure it out. Evening date nights, as simple as dinner and a movie at home, little weekend retreats here and there, and of course, the full blown, exhausting day at Disney World when the show ain’t over until the last fireworks sparkle – my goal for this one is simply to do a lot better than we did last year!

Try to Keep in Better Touch with Old Friends
This is an area that I’ve admittedly been really bad at lately, even with the wedding and all, and I know that a lot of it can be attributed to the distance and busy schedules and all of that, but I’d still like to do a little better. More e-mails, more phone calls, more remembering the little things. I’m also of the understanding that 2009 will be the 10th year since I graduated high school, so with the assumption that there will eventually be a reunion of some sort, I want to be ready and able to attend that.

Other:
Give the House One Really Good Cleaning
And I’m not just talking about vacuuming the floors or even figuring out how to dust, whatever that is! This is an all-out, weekend-dedicated cleaning spree where the house gets the cleaning of a lifetime because not to gross you out or anything, but if there’s one area that we kind of lack in, cleaning is definitely it. I try to do a room here or there, but it’s just never enough and the others seem to look even worse afterwards – what this place needs is an apocalypse of cleaning, and in 2009 it’s going to get it!

Welcome a New Member of the Family
No, no – it’s certainly not what you think, but I’ve sort of promised Sara that sometime in 2009 we would get a dog. I’ve wanted one ever since I moved here and had to leave Brandi in Michigan, but the cards were just never in my favor with apartment living. Even here in our current house, it’s not exactly my ideal setting because our yard doesn’t have a fence and I’d like it to be able to run around back there without supervision. Nonetheless, we’ve sort of decided that we’re probably not going to leave this house until we can move into something that we’ve purchased, which won’t be for another couple of years, and since I want dog before baby … there you go.

Make a Sizable Dent in Our Debt
I don’t want to talk about the economy right now because it’s kind of depressing and just coming off of a fairly expensive wedding, needless to say we’ve got a lot more debt than we should. It’s going to be tough for the majority of the year because our budget is already pretty tight given our current circumstances, but if we can make a so-so dent and then also make sure that things don’t get any worse between now and when Sara graduates this fall, I think we can still make a good start at getting back to where we need to be this year. It’s certainly not a one year task at this point, but I suppose just like in weight loss, if it didn’t build up in a year, it’s not going to come off in a year, either…

And Speaking of Weight Loss…
Yep, my last resolution for 2009 is most stereotypical one of all – lose weight. I had some decent moments in 2008 where I was doing quite well, and I also had some horrible moments where I packed it all back on and then a bit more. Unfortunately, those less than great moments happened more recently, so I’ve got a lot of work to do. And the thing is, what I need to do is obvious – be conscious about what I eat and how much I snack, drink more water and less soda, get to the gym a few times a week, and sleep a normal sleep schedule. Really, I just need to do it – all I can hope is that my somewhat improved time management skills from other areas will also rub off here as well.