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Thursday, December 30, 2004

2005 New Years Resolutions

It's that time. Last year my resolutions were:
  1. Practice veracity, or at least avoid lying when possible.
  2. Finish She Who Must Be Obeyed.
  3. Contact friends and family more often. (Make two personal telephone calls or visits a week with no other purpose than conversation.)
  4. Read daily from Renew My Heart
  5. Waste less time!
To be honest, I think I failed. I've done better with veracity. I haven't done better with any of the other four. Sigh. But today is another year. Before I looked up those, I came up with this year's:
  1. Next time I open Spider Sol I'll have to figure out again how to do it.
  2. Weigh less than 175 on July 23, 2005.
  3. Write 1000 words a week on She Who Must Be Obeyed.
  4. CENSORED. [The fourth has to do with improving a specific relationship, and the way to improve a relationship with a private person isn't to talk about it in public.]
  5. Write Morning Pages at least 300 days in 2005.
  6. Reclaim my signature.
  7. Keep financial records well and on an ongoing basis.

Obviously She Who Must Be Obeyed is far from finished. I haven't really worked on it since October. It's either hard and heavy work or out of sight/out of mind. If I manage the 1000 words a week, I'll do more than that.

This morning I was in Quanah at the grocery store and wrote my signature, immediately exclaiming I did it the old sloppy way. Awareness after the fact is good; actually writing in a near-legible manner is much better.

My weight is about what it was last December, but that's after having gained and lost more than 30 pounds. With two sons getting married in 2005, you would think I would have sufficient motivation. Let's see if I have the willpower to go with the motivation!

Morning Pages are the idea of Julia Cameron in her book Artist's Way. They are helpful in keeping me focused on task. When I actually write morning pages, whether first thing in the morning or just some time during the day, I stay better focused on what I want to be, not what I lapse into.

Spider sol, if you don't know, is a devious device of Microsoft including in the newer versions of Windows. But take that as your answer, and don't go looking for it. This may be the hardest thing to do of the list, and if I end up getting it done, then the others will fall into place. To accomplish this, I have developed a list:

100 Things to Do When Clutched by Spider Sol Obsession

  1. Update a web page.
  2. Clean a drawer.
  3. Clean the kitchen.
  4. Get all my stuff off the brown chair again
  5. Watch a show on television.
  6. Clean out the car.
  7. Write a letter.
  8. Write a poem.
  9. Write a judge’s bio for She Who Must be Obeyed.
  10. Do morning pages.
  11. Walk a mile.
  12. Go to the gym.
  13. Walk the stairs in the courthouse.
  14. Clean my desk.
  15. Organize emails.
  16. Back up the hard drive.
  17. Query an editor.
  18. Blog.
  19. Learn Italian.
  20. Learn Spanish.
  21. Read a book.
  22. Write a book.
  23. Research a family line (genealogy).
  24. Learn ASP programming.
  25. Read a chapter of a book about writing better.
  26. Eliminate duplicate files.
  27. Write my column for the next Abilene Writers Guild newsletter.
  28. Work in the yard.
  29. Visit a shut-in.
  30. Call my parents.
  31. Email my sisters.
  32. Learn somebody’s name.
  33. Read a poem.
  34. Sell something on Ebay.
  35. Clean a closet.
  36. Clean the utility room.
  37. Inventory the House.
  38. Update the “red book” (record-keeping).
  39. Play my electronic piano keyboard.
  40. Update my food sheet for Metabolic Research Center.
  41. Repair a chair (there are 4 in the house that need it.).
  42. Fix the vibrator.
  43. Read the Bible.
  44. Work on the next Sunday School lesson (before Saturday evening!).
  45. Check the tire pressure on my car.
  46. List 100 books I could write.
  47. Write an article.
  48. Sweat with the Oldies.
  49. Write to ginners to find an old sign I want to buy (Moss Gordon Lint Cleaner).
  50. Start a Christmas list so I don’t have to work so hard when time to do.
  51. Prepare next year’s Christmas cards (or last year’s).
  52. Write a thank you note.
  53. Call one of my sons.
  54. Add dialogue to Syncopated Summer.
  55. Finish Her Honor.
  56. Finish She Who Must be Obeyed.
  57. Finish The Devil’s Right Hand.
  58. Do an exercise from The First Five Pages.
  59. Write a mystery.
  60. Enter a writing contest.
  61. Go see a movie.
  62. Write a screenplay.
  63. Clean the storeroom.
  64. Refinish the seat to the vanity (Finish refinishing. I started years ago.).
  65. Check on progress on my New Years Resolutions.
  66. Check the oil level in my car.
  67. List 100 places I want to go.
  68. Read about a king on the British royalty site.
  69. Freewrite a children’s book.
  70. Learn Poser.
  71. Learn Photoshop.
  72. Get A+ Certified.
  73. Vacuum the patio.
  74. Identify the plants in our yard.
  75. Read last Sunday’s Dallas Morning News.
  76. Do a crossword.
  77. Write a crossword puzzle.
  78. Write and illustrate a picture book.
  79. Engage in a face-to-face conversation with somebody.
  80. Plan a party.
  81. Study Writers Market.
  82. Write a travel article.
  83. Write an op-ed piece.
  84. Pick a subject and learn what I can about it.
  85. Ride my bike.
  86. Try a new recipe.
  87. Call somebody just to visit.
  88. Send Copper Breaks Caper to the agent who was interested.
  89. Self-publish my cookbook to a wider group.
  90. Bathe a dog.
  91. Walk the dogs.
  92. Learn to converse. Aren’t there books to teach you?.
  93. Balance my checkbook.
  94. List our assets.
  95. Sell a photograph.
  96. Double my publication credits.
  97. Write a fan letter.
  98. Get an online degree.
  99. Set up an email list for posting from Internet cafes on trips.
  100. Organize a 10-step group for people addicted to Spider Sol.

Have a great new year! May all your resolutions take seed and grow. And may mine.

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