Happy New Year!

For me, 2014 was a mixture of major ups and downs. We were trying to sell our house and ran into all kinds of obstacles. It was a huge trial of faith, but I knew we were supposed to move. When the actual sale took a month and a half, I thought I'd go crazy. But after being in this house for eight months (We finally moved in on April 1st - yes, April Fool's Day. I thought it was quite appropriate after what we'd been through), I knew we had to be ready for the neighborhood we were about to move into.

Our kids have friends now. Really close, very good friends. Our house is constantly filled with laughter as friends come over to play. We also have chickens, and rabbits, and cats, and we'll get a few more animals this year. Our kids fight over who gets to feed them because they love having the animals around. And we have space. Lots and lots of space.

The blessings go on and on. Those little things made the headache and heartache I went through at the beginning of the year all worth it.

So now we move onto 2015. We had quite the start when I took my daughter to the doctor and found out she had pneumonia. Poor girl. Hopefully things only get better from here.

We can pause and laugh for a bit.

So, anyway, what do you have in mind for goals this year? Have you figured out where you want to go with your writing? How about life in general? I haven't been one to make resolutions in the past, but then, I wasn't one to make to-do lists either. Apparently I grew up a little in the last couple years. Or my memory is nothing like it used to be and I have to have help remembering things ...

Two years ago, I was bound and determined to get a book published, so that was my resolution. Last year I just wanted to make it through the year with no surgeries. I managed to make both happen. You'd think the surgery one would be easy, but then we had quite a 2012 and 2013.

Anyway, I was at a loss for what I wanted to do this year. I could go all out and say "make a million dollars, reopen my bookstore with a museum and theater attached (in the works for our city arts council that I'm a part of), go to Ireland, and find a prize agent/big five publisher."

But let's not get crazy. Or am I crazy? Can't I take each one of those ideas and just build on them? I can work to improve my writing so that one of those agents might pick me up. I could save up my earnings for a ticket to Ireland. And, like I said, we're working on the theater/museum/bookstore.

I think both goals and dreams are good to have, and when you can intertwine them, it's even better. Come up with where you want to be a year from now, and find ways to get there. Find small things that be accomplished and go from there.

Besides those above, my actual goals are to branch out and hit a few conventions out of state, and find an exercise plan I will actually do. Between the two resolutions, find out-of-state conventions is by far the easier resolution for me.

Good luck with your goals, and I hope 2015 treats you well!