Happy New Year!

I declared 2014 "The Year of Finishing Things," almost a year ago, and I wouldn't say I just knocked that goal out of the park. I'm not terrific with finishing things, but I want to be. I'm going to carry this idea over into this year and give it another go.

I'm terrible with resolutions, so I'm just going to make a list of some things I'd like to accomplish in 2015, with no expectation that I will achieve all of them. I'm a work in progress, into 2016 and beyond. I don't doubt I'll be back here 1/1/2016 reaffirming some of these goals to be carried forward into the next year, but that's okay.

The trick is to keep moving.

Goals for 2015

1. Get my average steps per day up to 10,000.  I have lots of data here, since I've been wearing a Fitbit every day for over a year.  My steps per day took a dive when I stopped working at Target (praise god, though, really.) and since I've been at my current (desk) job, Since then, my daily steps have dropped to an average of 4272. So I need to get 6k elsewhere, probably before work, and I don't think that will be that hard. I'm determined to do this one. It's my number one priority. That leads to the next goal...
2. Gym. Oh, the gym. I belong to Planet Fitness, that notorious gym. I'm one of the people who pays 10.00 a month to feel healthier without actually going to the gym. I really want to turn this around, though I know the Resolution People will be there with me, making the gym crowded for the first few months of the year. I'm going to be one of them. I confess, I'm a little curious how many other slackers like me are about to go back to the gym because of the principle of the thing.
3. Read 75 books, including clearing the backlog of to-reads I've been dusting and living in proximity to for two years or more. 
4. Blog three times at least three times a week--twelve entries a month, not including book reviews. 
5. Use Chuck Wendig's Novel Writing Plan to finish my NaNoWriMo 2014 project as well as the Improbable Romance Novel. 
6. 100 Happy Days--I started this last year, and fell off immediately. More pictures of more things that make me happy. It's a good practice, to be present and grateful and aware of when I am happy.

The Year of Finishing Things

I have made this year a year for clearing out some of my long-term to-do lists. In specific, when it comes to reading, I want to try authors I have always meant to, and get read some of the books that my friends swear by that I haven't tried or failed to get into when I did try them in the past.

When I was in law school, there were books I simply couldn't bring myself to read. I knew I didn't have the spare brain power to read truly demanding things, and I had a strong hankering for happy endings and tidier stories at that time. I passed on a lot of things I knew I simply wouldn't be up to parsing. But it's left strange gaps in my reading, and I know there are authors and stories I will like that I haven't so much as dipped a toe in. There are also a few series I'm behind on because I knew I couldn't give them the attention they deserve.

So 2014 is the Year of Catching Up. First up, Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Also in the immediate future: catching up on Michelle West's House War series, and reading my first China Mieville. I'm looking forward to all of them very much.