New Year: A Time of Change Despite Resolutions.

   Happy new year to you all and many blessings.

New year often means New Year’s Resolutions.  Its the time we start a diet, resolve to clean the basement, start saving for a trip to Europe or to somewhere warm for a few weeks in winter.  Resolutions are easy to make, but they are difficult to follow. The pizza looks really good, and we can’t pass it up or  the cookies we  baked for the holidays are too good to throw away.  Other things are more important than cleaning the basement  since it’s looked like that for years so why clean it now?  The money for a trip slips through our fingers since the computer is two years old and a new laptop would be handy. Plus it’s on sale. CDs are becoming outdated, so why waste money? Buying an  ipad iPhone, ipod or any MP3 player makes sense. Europe will be there next year. And so it goes, resolutions, more than not, slip into the dumpster of our minds and are forgotten.

So what do we do now? The answer isn’t easy. We can make changes, one at a time.  The first thing to know about resolutions is they must be something we desperately want or need. Just as a novelist provides goals for the main characters, you can also make changes that we’re willing to fight for. Our own willpower is often our antagonist. And we know in a novel, the protagonist must be stronger and more cunning to win the battle and reach the goal.

Second too many resolutions make meeting them nearly impossible. In a novel, when characters face too many conflicts, they become overwhelmed and must dig deep for the strength and willpower to win, or they fail.  We want to chose one resolutions,  one thing that is truly important to us, something worth fighting for.

Next, the goal must be realistic.  We need strong motivation to reach the goal. The need or want is a make or break situation.  If we  fail, we lose something vital to our need. 

When you make resolutions, make sure you only make one, one that is so powerful that you are driven to succeed, and then be cunning. Look out for the villains or predators, that might even be your own failing willpower.  When the villain attacks your good thinking, sit back and concentrate on the goal that you need or want so badly.  Time is your friend. If you don’t take the donut, or purchase the latest gadget, or stumble over box after box in your basement long enough, you can win the procrastination battle.

Every year as a writer, I select one way I want to improve my writing. I chose something that I admire in another author, or a weakness that I see in my writing. Last year I worked at cutting redundancy, and I think my writing is much better for it.  The year before that I decided to cut as many dialogue tags as I could so that character’s point of view became stronger and deeper. Those were goals I worked at and strove for.  You can do the same. If the goal is worth the resolution or the promise, then make one and win the battle.  Success is something we all want. No one likes a loser, not even you. . .unless it’s a few pounds off the scale.  Wishing you good choices for improving your health, your life, your career and your dreams.

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