Chris's New Year’s Resolutions

by Chris

As the first Friday of January happens to coincide with the first of the month itself, it therefore falls on me to welcome in the New Year here at Girl Who Reads. So to all of you who celebrate such things, I hope you’ve had a festive holiday, and usher in 2016 with only a small hangover.

New years are often seen as a new beginning; a chance to right the wrongs of the past twelve months, to renew obligations to others and to ourselves, and to promise ourselves once again that we’ll work out at least twice this year. It can be difficult, of course, to maintain this sense of upbeat optimism, since the winter holidays tend to line up pretty well with the shortest and darkest days of the year. (In our hemisphere, at least; I wonder how Australians feel about the new year.)

Feeling, as it were, a little more upbeat than usual myself, I thought I’d take a moment to share my own resolutions with you all; possibly as a way of inspiring you to keep to your own, but more likely as a way of shaming myself into keeping them myself. I’d like to think that, come July, I’ll be able to look back on this article and think to myself, at least I managed to keep to … well, something that I promised I would.

1. Publish the second book of my ongoing epic fantasy series, The Redemption of Erâth. This is a particularly difficult one, since this was my resolution last year too. However, I feel a little better about it this time, because it’s so nearly finished. Just a few last edits and I think I’ll be pretty happy with it. Maybe by February? We’ll see.
2. Finish writing the third book of the series, too. This might take a little longer, but I have almost ten chapters drafted now, so it’s a solid third of the way through. I’m also enjoying the direction of the third book so far, and I think I’ll enjoy finishing it … when I get around to it. I doubt I’ll publish it next year as well, but you never know.
3. Read more. Actually, that should be just, read. This is somewhat embarrassing for a writer to admit, but I think I read two books last year in total that weren’t my own. Surely it shouldn’t be too hard to read, say, one book a month? Twelve books over the next twelve months sounds more than reasonable, and I’ll start with the fresh copies of The Lord of the Rings that my son gave me as a gift. Maybe then some Anne McCaffrey, or even a beautiful book called Wildwood my sister gave me some years ago that I never even opened. Yes; I need to read more.
4. Lose weight. Yes, I know this is the perennially forgotten resolution the world over, but I’m starting to show a bit of a tubby middle, and I could do with losing a few pounds. Exercise more, eat less … easy stuff, surely? We’ll see.
5. Write every day. Yes, yes. This is important. As a writer, I know the drive to continually write, keeping those mental (and finger) muscles in shape. However, the past six months have been pretty trying for me, and I’d be lying if I said I’ve written even once a week for some time now. But no more, I cry! Whether it’s work on my book, journalling, or just a blog post, this is perhaps the most important thing I can promise myself to do. If I write every day, eventually I’ll achieve my goals (or so I keep telling myself). So write I will, starting today!

What are your resolutions this year, and do you intend to (or even think you can) keep to them?


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