"The Dynamo of Volition"*

I haven't made a New Year's resolution in quite a few years. I find them somewhat arbitrary and limiting. Just because it's January 1st, doesn't mean that it's the right time for me to set a certain goal. Maybe I just like to buck tradition, but I kind of enjoy the freedom of not having a resolution. And let's be honest, most people who make resolutions fail (according to Wikipedia...which is, of course, always right...only 12% succeed).

Many resolutions are fitness and/or diet related. Seeing as I prefer to exercise outside and I live in New England, creating an exercise goal in the middle of winter doesn't seem like a good idea (really, I'm just setting myself up for failure). As for diet, well I tend to try and be good all year long—admittedly with varying degrees of success—and I always try and be more careful after the usual holiday indiscretions (indigestions?).

A lot of my writing friends make writing resolutions. Right now, I'm working on revising a MG novel, I'm writing a first draft of a YA novel, and I'm considering doing another round of revisions on a YA novel that I had been sending out to editors and agents. I'm attending a writing conference in early April, so I'm planning my writing deadlines around that.

I prefer not to limit myself to one time of year for making resolutions. I see each and every day as a new opportunity to work on being a better person. That also means if a day goes by and I didn't exactly meet my goal, there's always tomorrow. Just in the last few weeks, I realized I haven't been stretching myself as a human being much lately, so I came up with a kind of crazy idea (which I'll be blogging about in the near future) to amp up my own level of introspection.

For those of you who do like to make resolutions, I'd love to hear what they are so I can help cheer you on along the way.

*Jason Mraz