Waiting for the School Bus...
Hey, here’s a P.C. Happy Holidays for you all! I hope you’re finding time to relax and slow down despite the kiddies being on exceptionally long winter breaks. As a stay-at-home mom, I foresee a very stretchy two weeks of getting no work done. None at all until January 3rd when that blessed yellow school bus reappears.
That means I want to hit the ground running in the New Year. To do that, I need to write up some goals, have a plan.
First goal—lose weight. Lots of weight. Mega poundage. So must devour all holiday cookies, cakes, and those pesky candy canes by Jan. 1. Throwing them out would be sacrilege, so must eat them all. Also must down the rum and eggnog. Ooh, maybe some brandy and eggnog too. Hmm, and the amaretto, kahlua and half-and-half. Mustn’t have any of that left or my resolution will fail.
Then need to actually exercise, which requires a cleared space in the living room in front of the TV, which ultimately could lead to cleaning the house…and we all know how unhealthy that is! Why, I got a cold on Saturday, because I was cleaning the house before my friends came over. Very dangerous activity—better to avoid it whenever possible.
Sigh. But that should be a goal, shouldn’t it? House Cleaning 101 and some major organizing. It’s not like the clean clothes need to actually live in the closet, right? That’s just a social convention. The chair, sink, and cedar chest work far better than drawers and hangers.
So they say that when you have a goal, you should create concrete baby steps to get you there. Now with exercising, Step 1 is getting off the couch, but…damn, if that isn’t the hardest step. Actually I do some laps daily, from the couch to the computer to check email to the kitchen for a snack, then back to the couch.
Geez, hard to believe I’ve written two books, two novellas, and several short stories, what with my work ethic.*g* But I guess that demonstrates the key part in keeping those annual resolutions: motivation.
Am I motivated to diet? My doctor wants me to be. Am I motivated to clean my house? Only in the hour before company arrives.
Am I motivated to write another book? Yes, on many levels and for many reasons. I want to please my readers; I want to please myself. I want to escape into a fantasy world where good and love triumph. I want to challenge myself and compete with others, get fan mail and accolades (hopefully). I want to prove I can do it and I want to get better at it. I could go on…which amazes me actually. No wonder I write. If only I could find so many deep down reasons for dieting.
Now, as I’m waiting for the return of the yellow school bus, I want to hear your goals. I’ll draw a winner from everyone who posts goals in the Comments here, and that person will win a copy of PRIMITIVE PASSION.
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
That means I want to hit the ground running in the New Year. To do that, I need to write up some goals, have a plan.
First goal—lose weight. Lots of weight. Mega poundage. So must devour all holiday cookies, cakes, and those pesky candy canes by Jan. 1. Throwing them out would be sacrilege, so must eat them all. Also must down the rum and eggnog. Ooh, maybe some brandy and eggnog too. Hmm, and the amaretto, kahlua and half-and-half. Mustn’t have any of that left or my resolution will fail.
Then need to actually exercise, which requires a cleared space in the living room in front of the TV, which ultimately could lead to cleaning the house…and we all know how unhealthy that is! Why, I got a cold on Saturday, because I was cleaning the house before my friends came over. Very dangerous activity—better to avoid it whenever possible.
Sigh. But that should be a goal, shouldn’t it? House Cleaning 101 and some major organizing. It’s not like the clean clothes need to actually live in the closet, right? That’s just a social convention. The chair, sink, and cedar chest work far better than drawers and hangers.
So they say that when you have a goal, you should create concrete baby steps to get you there. Now with exercising, Step 1 is getting off the couch, but…damn, if that isn’t the hardest step. Actually I do some laps daily, from the couch to the computer to check email to the kitchen for a snack, then back to the couch.
Geez, hard to believe I’ve written two books, two novellas, and several short stories, what with my work ethic.*g* But I guess that demonstrates the key part in keeping those annual resolutions: motivation.
Am I motivated to diet? My doctor wants me to be. Am I motivated to clean my house? Only in the hour before company arrives.
Am I motivated to write another book? Yes, on many levels and for many reasons. I want to please my readers; I want to please myself. I want to escape into a fantasy world where good and love triumph. I want to challenge myself and compete with others, get fan mail and accolades (hopefully). I want to prove I can do it and I want to get better at it. I could go on…which amazes me actually. No wonder I write. If only I could find so many deep down reasons for dieting.
Now, as I’m waiting for the return of the yellow school bus, I want to hear your goals. I’ll draw a winner from everyone who posts goals in the Comments here, and that person will win a copy of PRIMITIVE PASSION.
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
SExed by Shara Lanel at 1:15 AM
24 Comments:
My main goal this year is to lose the weight I gained after I quit smoking
1. Get my health in order.
2. Secure a new job.
3. Read at least a book a week.
Wow, Shara, you actually plan what you're going have as your new years resolution? I'm impressed. I usually waited until the fireworks started before I pulled something out of the hat and said "this is my resolution."
None of which have been resolved, by-the-by, so three years ago my resolution was -- "I'm not making any further resolutions."
Talk about weight lifting, no not the kind with dumb bells, I mean off the shoulders. The freedom to just let midnight on New Years Eve, come and go without thought, wowza.
I think it's the thrill of victory, actually making a resolution; and the agony of defeat, because, really how many of us can keep it up for a year? The resolution, not something else, yes, I can get my mind out of the gutter for brief periods ~grinz~.
See for me the problem was too much time to devote to one or two goals. An entire year...that's twelve months. Fifty-two weeks. Three Hundred and Sixty Five days.
Don't ask, I can't count that high. The point here is that my goals are short term. I lay out a few days (maybe a few weeks) at a time and say...okay, this is doable, now get it done.
It doesn't always work, but the stress of looking at losing forty pounds next year, is a lot higher than losing one pound this week.
I've found this works well for me and one great benefit: without having to think about those pesky resolutions I have more time for kissing at midnight on New Years Eve!!
Michelle Hoppe
www.michellehoppe.com
Great goals! Jeanette, awesome that you quit smoking! Robin, I'm all for massages. I try to get one every couple of months. And finish your story. I totally relate to that one--tell myself that daily. Jenny, good luck with getting a new job and reading a book a week. I don't want a job (other than writing), but I would like to read more.
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
Michelle, I like the way you think! Looking at losing a pound a week instead of the overall amount I need to lose sounds like a great method. Just like writing a page a day (or hopefully more) is easier than thinking about writing a 400 page novel. I like to write and reflect in my journal before it's time to party on New Year's Eve, because yes it's more fun to focus on the kissing. Of course, we usually wake my son up for the ball drop, so that's not nearly as fun as it could be ;-)
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
Shara, I've heard that when you really get into a routine with an exercise program, it hurts (with cramping muscles and such) if you break the routine. My thought is, why would I start something that hurts when I stop it?? Silly exercise people!
And I soooo identify with "If I eat it all now, I won't have it around the house to eat later." We are wise women, indeed!
All of that aside, my goals for 2006 are:
1. Try to keep my back (and thus, the rest of me) out of the hospital
2. Continue to prove to dh that I'm the sexiest, most beautiful and most perfect wife any man could have
Well, okay, that last one's kind of a fantasy. He'd be happy if I just kept the toilet bowls clean and fixed him steak for dinner every week.
Here's to a fabulous 2006 for all of us!
Dee
www.deesknight.com
Gee, wants the toilet bowls clean, does he? And steak too? Not asking for much *g* My hubby seems to wish I wouldn't cook--might have something to do with my food preparation skills ;-)
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
Reso-whatsa?
I gotta look this one up in the dictionary.
I should *cough* finish writing something. *ahem*
Well, as sucky as I've been in the past with keeping resolutions I've made, you'd think I'd learn.
But, no, I like to set myself up for failure. :)
First goal: lose weight. Lots of weight. Mega poundage. (Hmmm. Where have I heard that before?)
Second goal: Convince myself that exercise is necessary. This might just take a while. Like... oh, all year.
Third goal: Do what I love (which is not dieting and exercise!). Write as much as possible.
Hey Hussies! You all are on fire already. Jenna, congrats on your fabu Love Romances review! And Sherrill, you've got all kinds of stuff coming out in '06. Awesome!
Hi Virginia! I love your 2nd goal. That's how I am on most days when I get up in the morning ;-)
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
Like Michelle I don't like to think too far in advance, thus in that mindset, I just want to make it through the next couple of weeks without imploding. I am so not a "holiday" person. Once January 2nd comes -- I'll be back to my normal busy-bee self.
Right now -- I just want to hibernate until its all over.
Oh and I can relate to the massages, too! Making note to have a lot of those over the next two weeks.
Rae Morgan
I'm with Rae on the holidays thing *sigh*. The tree is up but has no ornaments, the house ain't decorated and there ain't no chestnuts roasting on any fires here.
I think most of my goals last year were writing goals. I had a plan (i'm a planner LOL). I failed miserably.
I will say this about exercise, when I did exercise (and it was just walking 3 mornings a week)I felt SO much better and I got more writing done. *sigh*
I won't make goals about house cleaning because after 36 years I think it's pretty much a given that it's not my forte. mama tried!
So most of my goals will be writin goals, much simpler writing goals that maybe I can meet. Speaking of which, I've got some writing to do.
Goal and resolutions. I have lots of goals, I gave up on the whole resolution thing.
1. Loose about 30 pounds and get serious about getting my blood pressure down before my doctor has my head. Eeek.
2. Finish my sci/fi series, which I won't do sitting here...LOL.
Those are all I can do. If I try to tackle too much at once, I fry my brain and then i'm useless...:)
Trista
Rae, hibernating sounds like so much fun, doesn't it? Sigh. If only I were a bear. Okay, I wouldn't go that far, since they probably shouldn't drink margaritas.
Cece, every year I have become a NYTimes bestseller on my goal list. Ain't hit it yet, but they say just writing it down sets the cosmos in motion. We'll see. Most of my goals are writing related, because they're the most fun.
Trista, I've done the fried brain thing. My desk is tangible evidence of this. I had a system, really I did. Out the window now though!
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
I haven't hit upon a goal setting or resolution making program that works for me. I, too, make resoulutions and set goals that at the time seem doable but as the year progresses I gradually lose steam and, by they end of the year, I haven't accomplished them. I have made progress, so that's a bright spot, but I haven't achieved what I set out to do. I'm just thinking here--stream of consciousness--maybe when I set goals and make resolutions I shouldn't focus only on the end result--whether I accomplished them or not. Rather I should also look at the journey they've taken me on. Was I enriched and did I do my small part in enriching others' lives because of my goals and resolutions, regardless of whether I achieved them or not? Interesting concept. I'll have to give this one more thought.
Here are a few goals and resolutions:
1. Continue to improve my storytelling and crafting skills
2. write a minimum of 500 words per day, 5 days a week
3. take myself on at least one artist date each week so my creative well is replenished on a regular basis
That's all for now! Good luck to all on their goals and resolutions.
Happy Holidays!
Lauren
Hi Jenny! You lucky winner of the AlphaSmart Dana!
My goals:
1. Increased daimoku (chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo);
2. Improve health by making daily efforts, no matter how small, to get up from my desk;
3. Feng Shui my office and see how the rest of the house falls into place;
4. Sell four paranormal erotica novels/novellas;
5. Write and sell three young adult paranormals; three more erotica paranormals;
And so much more!
My resolutions are writing-related. I have a list of projects that I want to complete. Other than that, I'll take it one day at a time.
Except ...
I'd really like to lose weight before the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in May. Y'all look for me there and see if I succeed, all right?
Nessie
Hi Lauren! Artist dates are so important, even if just to see a movie. Right now I'm reading craft books to replenish the well, but sometimes they can bog me down in "have to's" so I have to watch that.
Darragha, 4 & 5 are excellent specific goals and #3 sounds like what I should do to my office too. Won't be possible until the Xmas presents are moved out.
Nessie, losing weight before RT--that's a great time limit to work with. (I'm taking notes on all these for myself.)
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
My biggest goal for the coming year is to stop procrastinating getting a mammogram & colonoscopy, losing weight, and cleaning out the clutter in my house!
My goal is to get more organized. I can't stand the clutter but it's easy to accumulate stuff.
Bec, that doesn't sound boring at all. It sounds interesting, at least to me. But then I'm fairly boring on the day to day--that's why I write. But I'm so glad when I get to do things like go to the Romantic Times conference or join in our Citizens' Police Academy.
Tiffany, one more book sounds like a terrific goal. Maureen and Annalisa, organizing clutter (purging clutter!) is something I so need to do! And now I even have to purge furniture, since we've got two new couches and three new chairs. The living room looks like the furniture showroom at a very rundown store ;-)
Shara
www.sharalanel.com
Annalisa...you and my daughter have the same name, spelled the same way. That's a first for us!
My daughter is named after a woman in Iceland.
my goal is to lose some more weight I lost 43 pounds last year and kept it off so far. whoohoo for me. am going to try adn top that this year
Pam, that's excellent! Something to be proud of.
Shara
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