A New Post For The New Year

Well, 2006 is finally over and done with. 2007's too young to show its true colors yet, but I'm hoping its intentions are good. (No, this isn't too soon for a year to show you it's going to be cruddy. 2004 started with an ice storm that dropped a huge limb through my sister's car within a week of its arrival.)

With the new year comes New Year's Resolutions. I suppose it's as good a time as any to figure out what you need or don't need in your life and resolve to do something about it. I print out my resolutions and tape them above my computer, so every time I use it (which is more often than I ought to), I have my resolutions glaring at me from behind the monitor. In the final assessment, I hit three out of nine resolutions for 2006, up from about 2 1/2 hit in 2005. In the hopes of a similar ratio this year, I upped the ante to 12 resolutions. To give myself some accountability, and to waste more blog space, I'll list them here.

1. Attain a source of income. This one's a no-brainer, but it has, unfortunately, topped my resolution list for two years running...
2. Write, draw, and create more. Another no-brainer, and another carryover from last year. I actually succeeded to a degree last year, finishing one draft of a novel-sized story and filling almost three sketchbooks (up from one a year previously.)
3. Spend at least one hour daily creating. Okay, so it's a bit redundant after the previous one... I could use all the motivation I can get... this is at least a concrete goal.
4. Offer at least one item I have created for sale. People keep telling me I could take commissions to sell custom ornaments. If I can get myself to the point where I can produce a more consistent product, as opposed to a poorly-planned, half-improvised monstrosity, I was thinking of actually giving it a go. I also had vague plans of using Skyhaven critter templates to create marketable merchandise.
5. Submit at least one story for a publication or contest. A perennial favorite on my resolution lists... if I can stick to Resolutions 2 and 3, maybe I can get a small batch of market-worthy stories together.
6. Post at least one work (art or story) a month on the internet for public viewing. My blog doesn't count in this, unfortunately, as I don't think the public tends to view it.
7. Organize and clean my space. It's not much, but it's all I can control at this point, so I really ought to keep it tidy. The trick is keeping other people's junk from encroaching on mine.
8. Create and share at least one Flash game or animation. I have some decidedly dangerous ideas about this, but actually installing and using Flash would have to be the first step.
9. Update sites. I did the Realm overhaul last year, but I have a lot more I want to accomplish. Dreamspire Castle's exceedingly stagnant, for one thing. This includes the Skyhaven overhaul I've been wanting to do for some time, and adding better graphics to Brightdreamer Books. (Promoting Brightdreamer Books in some manner is a subset of this...)
10. Update or add at least five Skyhaven critters. Self-explanatory, especially if you've visited Skyhaven...
11. Walk at least three times a week. Because I'm a lazy lump, and I tend to think better when I get out and exercise more.
12. Restart my budget and learn about investing. I shuffled what remains of my Life Or Death fund (once laughably referred to as my college fund) at the tail end of 2006, but I need to make some of that minimal money work for me, especially if my first resolution's a no-go again this year.

I suppose I really ought to get to work on making some of these happen. Hopefully, 2007 will help me out, or at least not hinder me in any horrific manner.