Have you revisited your New Year’s Resolutions lately (or ever)??

In case you somehow missed it, we have arrived in the second trimester of 2024. Mid-May is running our schedules into manic chaos, and the weather (at least in the Midwest) is propelling us outside every moment of the day, tempting us to shirk responsibilities. The year is flying by, as it always does, and we’ll be making our Christmas lists before we know it.

If you haven’t checked in on your 2024 New Year’s resolutions/goals/words for the year/intentions/vibes, it’s time. I’m not a big fan of setting meaningless resolutions to “be better,” but the past few years, I’ve enjoyed creating a to-do list on January 1 of tasks (both big and small) that I hope to accomplish over the coming 12 months.

The first few times I did this, I had some great laughs in December when I would flip back in my journal to see how far I’d come. Usually, I hadn’t covered much ground. My pathetic progress was hardly because my goals were too lofty (and many of them were LOFTY) and more because I had paid no mind to those to-do lists throughout the year. It’s hard to make progress when you have no idea what notion of success you’re aiming toward.

A few days ago, I flipped back in my journal to do a progress check on my 2024 to-do list. I gave myself a nice pat on the back when I noted my overall progress; directly attributing that to the fact that at least once a month, I have revisited my goals and adjusted my strategies to accomplish them. The practice of working repeatedly on something(s) has made me better & I’ve already crossed off some of the things I set out to do.

While there’s always room for improvement on current works-in-progress, reading my goals list helped me realize that I also have capacity to squeeze in a few more 2024 to-do list items—particularly ones that will stretch and strengthen my writing abilities. The thing about intentionally working on goals is that you often discover that you didn’t actually set your sights high enough. You sold yourself short. With a strong desire to push my limits, I set a lofty mid-year bonus-goal to write and share 100 things before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Since there’s no time like the present, I immediately got to work on this first piece. Ta-da: one post of my lofty mid-year bonus-goal complete. Only 99 to go!

I am not new to the practice of writing for public consumption. For the past nine years, I have regularly maintained a blog. This space, which contains my travel experiences, book reviews, essays on life, original poetry and examples of my art, has become a really great portfolio piece –demonstrating my writing skills & presenting a cohesive brand identity and voice as an author and artist.

To be very candid about my purpose in my #100 posts, I want/need/hope to build out a greater following. I have some very lofty book-publishing goals for this year (and the next 25), and everything I read about the industry emphasizes to me the necessity of having a “platform.” I’m grateful that you took time to read this post today, and I sincerely hope that you hit the follow button to have access to the next 99 posts (plus years of archived posts)! If you’ve followed along on this blog for a while, THANK YOU! If you’re new, welcome! You don’t have much to lose, and we both have lots to gain if you join my community and occasionally hit the LIKE, SHARE or COMMENT buttons. Additionally, I want greater accountability for pursuing this lofty mid-year bonus-goal in front of a like-minded community of other writers & creators, so I’ll also be sending out periodic newsletters via my Substack.

So, what’s in store? I have some ideas for short stories, essays, and a few special series cooked up already, and I anticipate more book reviews, poems, and travel anecdotes to share as well. There will be a variety of topics to entertain, enlighten & hopefully inspire you, my dear reader, so grab a cup of coffee, find a comfy chair and dive in!

SDG

LMB #1

p.s. Do you have a Lofty Mid-year Bonus-goal? Share it in the comments. I’d love to cheer you on!