This Writer's Resolutions List

New Year's Resolutions make me cringe.  It doesn't matter how committed I am to abiding by the list, it always seems to lose ground sometime around spring when even I, a dedicated teacher, look towards Heaven and scream, "My God, when will this school year ever end!"  As my tendency towards slackery overrides my actions, I slip into a robotic daze until June, pushing all things personal aside and focusing solely on the finish line at work.  I bring hundreds of essays home to grade, I hibernate from the allergies swarming outside, I even stress eat like it's the day before starting an HCG Diet. It's a perfect storm for writer's drought.  But...here I go again scratching out another To-Do List for 2015 because I'm a habitual list-maker by nature, and, if I don't write it down, I'll go mad.

#1  WRITE EVERYDAY

Whether it's blogging, journaling, or pecking out pages of a novel, I am going to practice a Dr. Seuss writing approach by breaking free from my desk at home.  I am going to find a variety of locale to spill words all over the page at, such as, in a coffee shop, or under a tree, or on a bed, or anywhere else I can unload my head..., and I am going to do this on a daily basis, no matter what.

#2  EXERCISE MY BODY WHILE ENGAGING MY MIND

I tend to listen to music when I work out.  Doesn't everybody?  It always prompts me to want to write, though.  My thoughts race right alongside my pulse when I am in motion, and I fumble with my Notes App to peck out any inspiration that manifests, often times breaking my pace, so I resolve to start accessing my Voice Memos App while I am exercising.  I also kind of look forward to creeping out the people around me at the gym when I start prattling into my cell phone about, "So 'n' so's caramel colored eyes glancing coyly across the crowded room of sweaty strangers, in search of such 'n' such....'  Romance novels are supposed to get the heart racing to a certain degree anyway, right?

#3  BROADEN MY CIRCLE OF WRITERLY FRIENDS

Since I have set out on my journey to accomplish the ultimate and ongoing goal of publication, I have gathered a handful of cheerleaders, proofreaders, and coffee-drinking scone eaters to surround myself with for inspiration and assistance.  (Darn you, Dr. Seuss.  I'm probably going to be like this for the rest of the night!)  I commit to finding other romance novelists, veteran or just beginning their adventure like me, to glean advice from or have a good laugh with as we compare notes on how to tackle our individual Writer's Resolutions Lists.  And, just like my To-Do Lists, I need more.  Who's with me?