When I woke up this morning, I went through my normal routine of looking at email/facebook/twitter. I had friends refusing to make New Years resolutions, others who decided to reflect on the past year or ten years, but mostly people talking about how they hope 2010 will be better than 2009.

New Years is a funny thing - an arbitrary date that holds so much importance. People think of it as this monumental event in which they should reflect upon their deed for the past year and try to find a way to improve themselves. They make goals that often don’t last more than a month, and long forgotten three months in, and only remembered as the year comes to a close once again.

Let’s see if I made any resolutions for this past year. … No, I did not.

Being a product of my society, I’m no different than others who have these reflective and goal-setting feelings that conjures up at New Years. Hell, I’ve been pondering mine for over a month now….

Most of the resolutions I’ve come up for myself have to do with reading, writing, and exercising on a regular basis. I want these things to happen, but I know I am not a creature of routine, and therefore I’m not sure if it’s going to work out. I’ve been told to start very easy. Instead of jumping into writing 1000 words a day, or reading two books a month, that I should start super light - say, 25 words a day, and maybe 5 pages a night - to build the habit. That magical 90 day mark, when supposedly habits take hold, won’t happen if you overwhelm yourself and make it not fun.

Just thinking about doing these things make me feel kind of excited. I think the biggest goal I’m going to set for myself in 2010, aside from building a writing habit, is to spend the next year doing all the necessary research I need for my novel so that by January 1, 2011, I will starting writing my novel. FOR REAL for real.

So, to put this in easy-to-read list form, here are my 2010 resolutions:

1. Build a writing habit
a. January - March: Starting at 35 words/day, add 35 words every week. By April 1st (90 days in), have a habit where I will be writing a minimum of 500 words a day.
b. By July 1st, have a habit of writing a minimum of 1000 words a day.
c. Maintain a 1000-1500 word minimum a day for the rest of the year.
d. Blogging!
i. Start with once a week for the first three months.
ii. Jump to two-three times a week for the next three months.
iii. Daily?? We’ll see…
2. Build a reading habit
a. Read 12 books or 4500 pages by December 31st, 2010. (A small goal, but I’m a slow reader.)
b. Read minimum 5 pages a day for the first three months.
c. Read minimum 20 pages a day for the next three months.
3. Get in shape.
a. This will sound silly: 2 hours of Dance Dance Resolution a week for the first three months.
b. Go to the gym twice a week for the first three months.
c. Increase to three to four times a week April - June.
d. By the end of school in June, be fit enough to do extended hiking/biking.
e. Continue keeping in shape for the rest of the year.
4. Do as much research as possible for upcoming novel.

Now I have a new apartment to try to organize. This is what happens when I get way too distracted by things like Amazon.com. =B