Planning Ahead

Happy 2010! I hope your New Year was happy and healthy and safe.

I love a new year. There is something about the fresh start and potential of a new year that makes me giddy. For the last couple weeks I have been brainstorming goals and plans for the new year. It is a great time to start new projects.


I made a new journal for the new year - something I did in 2007 for a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and have kept up ever since. Each year has a different design. This year I went back to a monthly format. I divided the journal into 12 sections, one for each month. That way I can keep track of my monthly goals. In retrospect, I wish I had done something else, though. In 2008, I had a list of things for each month, so I set the monthly sections up with a couple pages each at the front of the journal. That way I could "journal" in the section after the monthly tabs without worrying about running into the next section. I didn't think that through this time. Oh well. I love how it turned out and will make the best of things.

My monthly goals are:

• Read one writing book from my stash. I have a shelf of writing books that are gathering dust. I want to concentrate on one each month this year so I can make use of the material I have at my disposal. In January I am reading A Novel Idea.
  
• Memorize a verse of scripture. For January I chose Galatians 6:4-5 from The Message.
• Submit three pieces of writing to a publisher. I have toyed with this writing thing for too long. It is time to jump in. Three is a very small number, but doable regardless of how much I am subbing or how intense my parenting load is.
• Prepare one song to sing for church. For January I chose Savior, Please. I only sing once or twice a year at church, but I love to sing. By setting a goal, I can really dig into a new song, memorize it, have it ready in case I am asked to sing. In reality, this is probably more about me making time to sing for myself rather than about performing a song at church (which makes me a nervous wreck).

I have other goals and plans, but I will save those for another blog entry. If you set some goals for yourself, post them here. I love to hear what others are working on.