How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming along?
I saw a statistic that said by today—Day 36 of 2023—a shocking 80% or more people have already given up on the resolutions they so fervently made at midnight on 1 January. Eighty percent. I think the figure is higher, to be honest. There’s even a holiday to help folks who waver on their resolutions. It’s called National Quitter’s Day and that was back on 13 January.
As I wrote back in December, I had certain personal goals—okay, let’s just call them habits, okay? That’s what they really are—that I wanted to do in January. I started re-reading the Psalms (one a day for 150 days), I re-read the Proverbs (31 chapters for 31 days in January), and have started to re-read Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic. Taking a cue from Bryon Quertermous, I bought a weekly planner and kept track of every habit I wanted to set.
So far? Success. It’s feels very nice to have reached the last day of the why-does-it-feel-so-long January and all my boxes were checked.
The other thing that also was checked? The writing habit. My writing goal for January was simple: start a new project and write on it every day. I had no word count goal but I tend to zero in on 1,000 words per session. Again, 100% success.
Now, it wasn’t perfect. There were a couple of days when I had to slog through the writing, but I sat down and did it.
By the 31st of January, I had amassed approximately 39,000 words on the new novel. That’s not quite NaNoWriMo speed (50,000 words over 30 days) but considering the dismal writing I did in 2022, I’ll take the win. You know how I knew the new habit was locked in? When on that first Saturday morning, I opted not to watch a movie before I finished my words for the day. That Saturday Habit has continued. That, my friends, is a fantastic feeling.
But what do you do if life threw you curveballs in January and you’ve had to catch them, dodge them, hit them, or let them hit you?
Start again. Seriously it’s that simple. Just start.
What’s great about February is that it has the fewest days of any month. If you’ve wanted to start a new habit and have fallen off the wagon, start again on Monday. Do the writing, do the exercise, do the reading, do the calling of your friends or family you haven’t spoken to in a long time. There are only 24 more days in February. It’s a nice, short length of time to get back to the habit you know you want to ingrain in your brain.
Start today or tomorrow and do that new habit every day for a week. Your reward? The Super Bowl. Then aim for the next week. You make it that far, you’ll only have ten more days until the end of the month.
You know you want to create that new resolution, that new habit. I’m here to tell you that it’s never too late. But you will have to do one thing:
Start.
Monday, February 6, 2023
It’s Never Too Late to Restart Resolutions and Habits
Monday, January 9, 2023
When Life Throws Curve Balls at Your Resolutions
How are those resolutions coming along?
It’s Day 7 of January 2023, a full week after many of us toasted the new year at midnight and resolved to make changes in our lives. Back in December, I wrote about making resolutions—or habit changes—with the guiding principle of “just try.” Most of us want to change something about ourselves—to become a better version of ourselves—so the first step is to decide to try. The next (and the next and the next) is to follow through.
Depending on where you get your data, a large percentage of folks who make new year’s resolutions fail by February. One statistic I found was 80%. That means 80% of people who want to change decide to renege [yeah that’s spelled correctly; I actually had to look it up] on their promises to themselves. January 19 seems to be the date most associated with throwing in the towel on resolutions. One fact I read claimed that 23% quit their resolutions in the first week. Hopefully you are not in that number.
So far, neither am I.
Most of the changes I want to implement are habits. I fell out of taking a multi-vitamin in the latter half of the year so I’m starting to take them again. Six for six as of this writing. Ditto for consuming a daily dose of apple cider vinegar, performing daily push-ups, getting up and moving [either walking or the rowing machine; walking won this week], and daily readings [Psalms, Proverbs, and the Daily Stoic]. The principles found in James Clear’s Atomic Habits provided me the tools necessary to maintain the habits I want to implement.
And, inspired by fellow writer Bryon Quertermous, I bought a weekly planner to keep track of everything. I make daily notes when I perform the habit. I don’t anticipate having 365 days of check marks saying I took a vitamin because after a certain number of days, the habit becomes ingrained. It’s how I started and maintained my flossing habit.
But here’s the key metric for any new habit: inevitably, one day you’ll miss or forget or somehow not do the new task. Let that roll off your shoulders and stay focused on the overall goal. Adjust if you have to and try not to miss two in a row. It was a lesson I applied yesterday.
The Writing Resolution
The year 2022 was not a good one for me writing-wise. As such, a major resolution for me was to get back in the habit of writing. Taking a cue from key message from author Mary Robinette Kowal at her book signing here in Houston back in November, I’m starting the year off with a brand-new story. Yes, I have multiple unfinished stories, but am channeling Kowal’s theory of why NaNoWriMo works for her: the writing is Novel, Interesting, Challenging, and Urgent.
So, for me, the new book is novel (as in brand-new). I’m interested in the story I’m telling. I find it challenging in that I’m starting from a story pitch and a general sense of what kind of story it is and how I want to tell it. As for urgency, I would love to finish the story by 31 January, but I’m allowing myself a goal of six weeks. I’ll grant myself until 28 February if things get complicated.
Crucially, I don’t have a set writing goal in terms of word count. All that matters is forward progress. I started the year with 1,028 words, a great start considering I haven’t written fiction in months. I topped 1,600 words twice this week, both on days in which I went into the office (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). By the time yesterday rolled around, my first work-from-home day of the year, I was excited: with no commute, I could wake at the same time and get a substantial chunk of writing done before I logged into my work computer.
That was the plan. Didn’t work out that way.
The Friday Curveball
I had Alexa set to sound the alarm at 5:30am. As a bit of background, the Christmas break was not as restful as I wanted and I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep. I’ve been tired this week and, despite my attempt to get up at the alarm, I was still catching up. “Alexa,” I said yesterday morning into the dark, “set an alarm for 5:45.” With those words, I rolled over for an extra fifteen minutes.
Forty-seven minutes later, I woke. Still in the dark. I smiled at myself for thinking I was so excited and ready to get to writing that I had beaten the alarm. I checked my digital watch. 6:17am. What the heck? Did the power go out? Nope, the ceiling fan was spinning. Puzzled, I asked Alexa what the alarm was set for. “5:45pm.”
That brought a huge sigh from me. Sure, I needed the sleep, but I had slept through my writing time. I only had time to get up, take out the dogs, shower, eat breakfast, and get to work. What would become of my new daily writing habit?
I adjusted.
I worked really hard on all my day job activities, got them all complete, and, late in the afternoon, I opened up my writing computer and picked up where I left off during my Thursday lunch hour. To be honest, it was weird writing so late in the day. I became a morning writer ten years ago—lunch hour writer when I have to go into the office—so it’s been a long time since I wrote fiction so late in the day.
But you know what? It worked. I made forward progress, clocked in 1,694 new words, and my writing resolution remained intact. All is good.
The key takeaway: Life will throw curve balls at your resolutions. Take the hits if you can and adjust accordingly. Just stay focused on the end goal: becoming a better you.
Monday, December 19, 2022
New Year’s Resolutions: Just Try
Do you have your New Year’s resolutions planned yet?
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s still two weeks away but this will be my last post at Do Some Damage until January. But I’ve already started thinking and planning the things I want to accomplish in 2023 and it is really important to kick off the year on a good note.
On the Daily Stoic podcast, host Ryan Holiday wondered why we constantly make New Year’s resolutions and he brought in a quote from Samuel Johnson: “Reformation is necessary and despair is criminal.” I looked up this quote to see if it is part of something larger and it is: “When I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed, why do I yet try to resolve again? I try, because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal. I try, in humble hope of the help of God.”
I know lots of folks have a good first week in January and then, by around the six-week mark, most folks have given up on their resolutions. But you don’t have to.
Which I why I’ve been structuring my own resolutions around smaller yet quantifiable goals. The key for me is to have a good January so that I can maintain the newly formed habit. For me, any new resolution I make I will do during the 31 days of January. I will keep track of the new habits daily and mark them on my calendar. Then, by 1 February, the bulk of the new habits will have become ingrained. It’s how I started my flossing habit and there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t floss.
But let’s circle back to the Johnson quote, the longer one. What he’s basically saying is that when he examines his life, he sees where he’s faltered and then questioned why try again. For many, that’s reason enough not to make resolutions For me, however, I am always optimistic that new habits and resolutions can be made and kept and maintained. I’m always looking for ways to improve my life—as a husband, father, writer, friend—and I’ll always make New Year’s resolutions.
Because what’s the alternative? You get older and then you look back on your life and wish you would have started something. Which ties right back to a quote I have pinned to my cork board: A year from now, you will have wished you started today.
Make “today” be 1 January 2023, start something new, and make your future self proud.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New year, new layout, new resolutions
- Reading resolution for 2011: read more than seven new books.
- Short story resolution for 2011: write more than two stories and submit them.
- Novel resolution for 2011: finish my second novel by Bouchercon in September.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Summer 2009: Crime and Pulp Fiction Edition
The summer also brings for a mini To Do list. Like our annual resolutions which we usually break by the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, my mini summer resolutions have a beginning time and an ending time. And, let’s be honest: there are some things you just want to do in the summertime and no other time.
I’ve made my mini to do list and a couple of resolutions and a short summer reading list. For SF-related material, you’ll have to head on over to my SF blog, SF Safari.
Music: I’ve decided to start reviewing music again here. I’m going to start with summery music. Don’t worry: even I don’t really know what that means but I hope to discover it.
Movies: Other than the ones in the theater, I enjoy watching old war movies. Over the Memorial Day weekend, I recorded a bunch of them and I’ll watch and write about them throughout the summer. Here are some of the ones I taped: A Walk in the Sun; Objective Burma; The Story of G.I. Joe; Destination: Tokyo; Where Eagles Dare; The Bridge over the River Kwai; The Fighting Seabees; Sahara; The Dirty Dozen; Kelly’s Heroes; They Were Expendable
Books: This summer, I want to read some swashbuckling tales I’ve just never read. Among those are Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I’ll probably watch the films after that. On the pulp side of things, I have a few Shadow and Doc Savage reprints in the wings. Might get to those. On the crime fiction side of things, Megan Abbott’s new book, Bury Me Deep, Elmore Leonard’s new one, Road Dogs, Perry Mason #2 (The Case of the Sulky Girl), and Dead Man’s Brother, the Roger Zelazny tale from Hard Case Crime. And, in August, Gabriel Hunt at the Cradle of Fear. For the SF and comics stuff, again, head on over to SF Safari.
Writing: My non-blogging goals are simple: write the next Calvin Carter story (the first, "You Don't Get Three Mistakes," is still available at Beat to a Pulp) and finish half of my steampunk novel. An extended goal will be to work on my crime short stories including the Lullaby one I teased y’all with a week or so ago and work on a short story with Anne Chambers, my HPD detective.
TV: nothing new until Project Runway. Yes, I watch it and love it. TV on DVD boils down to one series: Firefly. More on that at SF Safari.
How about y’all? Do y’all have thinks y’all like to do only in the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2008 Resolutions - The Summing Up
My blog was the biggest change for my writing career in 2008. As the year progressed, it evolved into a review site, a place where I could share my self-education into crime and mystery fiction. Along the way, I discussed music, history, films, and a few other things that shot into my head. But, by and large, I kept the focus of this blog on books, authors, and the writing process. I don’t envision that I’ll change the focus of this blog in the future...but, then again, I didn’t think my blog would have exploded the way it did.
I met a second resolution: submitting a book review to my local Ft. Bend Writer’s Guild conference. Ironic, isn’t it, that on 1 January 2008, I wanted to write only one book review. I’ve written dozens (?). I’ll count later. And I won for that review. It was my review of The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow.
The biggest deficit in the resolutions column is my second novel. I wanted to finish it. It had other plans. It’s not that I didn’t have the ideas or the story arc. I found it. But it took me too long to find that middle section. When I did, I failed to carve out the time and get that first draft written. And I bet too many chips on the manuscript being well received at the October writing conference. The judges didn’t like all that I had done and it knocked me off-track. But that reeks of an excuse. Can’t really blame anything other than my focus on reading crime fiction, reviewing it, and then repeating. The bad news is that I still don’t have a first draft of Book #2. The good news is that all I have learned in 2008 will go to make Book #2 that much better.
The second deficit I discovered only this month, when David Cranmer launched his new pulp e-zine, Beat to a Pulp: I don’t have any short stories in the drawer. I do have some; they just suck. With all the reading I did this past year, I cringe at reading my older work. I guess we all do. Shows we’re progressing as writers. But I realized that my lack of short stories just waiting to be submitted to Beat to a Pulp or any other venue meant that I wasn’t taking that part of a writing career seriously. I was too focused on writing my second novel. I need to do that which I read about everywhere: always have something out there.
That stops in 2009 (more in my 2009 Resolutions blog entry).
In summary, I didn’t meet all my 2008 writing goals. Fact. But I read a lot, wrote a lot, and learned a lot, much more more than I ever expected. Patti Abbott asked a question on her blog that I like: what's to like about 2008. You can read my extended answer over at her blog but what I’ll say here is this: I’ll miss reading classic authors for the first time. More often than not, when I posted a review of a classic book or author, the folks in the comments section would write that they envied me my “new” discovery, a discovery they made years or decades ago. Now, the number of New-to-Me authors has dwindled. But there are so much more.
For all that I read and learned, I’ll be a better writer and reviewer.
But more than anything, I developed regular readers to this blog. I developed friendships with a number of fellow bloggers around the country and across the oceans. You all know who y’all are. I love all the back-and-forths we do on each others blogs, seeing what y’all are reading or listening to or watching. The Friday Forgotten Books Project just makes my Friday. Ditto for Bruce Grossman’s Bullets, Broads, Blackmail, and Bombs column every Wednesday over at Bookgasm.com. I love the old movie trailers Bill Crider unearths. I discovered The Louis L’amour Project just as I started to read westerns. The good folks at The Rap Sheet continue to be my go-to source for all things relating to literary crime fiction. (And I’m still new enough on the scene to be jazzed when Jeff Pierce picks up one of my reviews and links to my site. Thanks!) On a non-crime fiction note, SF Signal is still my go-to source for all things SF/F/H. And, now, Beat to a Pulp has set a high standard of excellent stories.
So, a BIG Texas-sized Thank You to all my regular readers and blog friends. Y’all help make my day better. May the new year bring us all continued blessings and flat-out fun as we read, learn, live, and enjoy each other’s online company.
