To do list for 2011…
I was just thinking about the upcoming year, and what I hope to accomplish in it, so I thought I’d share my plans:
1. I will finish the book of poems I’m working on, with care.
2. I will exercise for the first time in five years. Hopefully more than once. (I joined a dance school, unlike any dance school I’ve ever set foot in, and I’m excited!)
3. I will plant some things in my yard, and not neglect them immediately after.
4. I will take road trips with my entire little family of four, get to know our adopted home state.
5. I will enroll the boys in religious school and be involved with that.
6. I will do some house projects that require me to learn new skills. Maybe learn to tile?
7. I will attend readings that have nothing to do with ME, just because it is very good to listen.
8. I will go on dates with my husband, at least once a month. We’ll go see some music!
Basically, the deal is that the last five years have been years of BIG CHANGE. My career and my family have gone through major awesome fun and exciting upheaval. But now we’re pretty nicely settled. I have my book contract for the year, and Chris has his job, and we have our house, and the boys are doing so so well. So now it is time to focus on the daily, the weekly, the local. There will never be a better time to get into shape, or save money, or develop a hobby. So my goal for 2011 is to just live, and live as contentedly as I can.
What do you want from 2011? What do you plan to do differently?
December 30th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Phew. I haven’t thought about this yet. I could use your list for the most part. But here’s what I think: Practice gratitude and forgiveness for myself and those I love. That has got to be first. Get my knee working again. Get my picture book picked up. Keep learning to stop myself when I’m caught up in something stressful. And spend as much time with Josephine before she learns to talk back!
December 31st, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Exercise properly twice a week, finish renovating the house (and live somewhere without major fixer-upper issues for the first time!), finish revising and be ready to query agents by April, teach the dog to walk without pulling on his leash, expand the vegetable garden!
2011 sounds like it should be a wonderful, peaceful year of consolidation for you, hopefully full of time to do the things you really want to do, rather than the things you must. Best of luck for it!
January 6th, 2011 at 6:47 am
1) Make friends. Most of my friendships didn’t survive the 14 years I suffered from daily migraines, and the road back has been fraught with difficulty, so we’re really just starting over now.
2) Start exercising. I used to teach karate to kids (for nine years), but haven’t been able to exercise since 1999 when I developed a weird illness characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue. (I just blogged about this. What’s frustrating is that I knew the cause, but couldn’t get a doctor to take me seriously until last September. Just started a new treatment that should help).
3) Land an agent. I finished my first MG adventure in December. I hope it’s good enough to find a home.
4) Return to activism.
5) Do more in my community.
6) Start a writers group and book club.