New year's resolution ideas...

So the new year is almost here...I find this hard to believe. Even my kids are expressing the same sentiment.

I've tossed around a few ideas, but haven't really landed on anything.

The things I would like to accomplish in the new year?

1. Publish another novel and possibly a memoir/autobiography.

I have the general idea for the plots of a novel trilogy and the first chapter of book one already down on a google doc. I've gathered photos of my two main characters and have my designer all in place to format and make my covers. So, I think this goal is well on it's way already. The only thing I need now are reachable goals and benchmarks to keep the momentum going. Write five chapters a week? Or write for two hours EVERY DAY? Which one do you think is better?

2. Finally reach that healthy weight I've been dancing around for two years, in essence trade some fluff for muscle.

I have said this before...but I have this odd idea that if I can get back to my weight and level of fitness before my late husband got sick, then I feel I could tick off one more step toward healing from that traumatic loss. I've got about 10 lbs of fluff to lose (thanks to those bags of chocolate I used to bring to bed with me to stave off the loneliness of the night) and 10 lbs (?) of muscle to gain. 

I'm not completely sure how to go about this other than to eat less and eat better paired with cardio and lifting weights.

Does anyone have some good strategies that don't include purchasing special food or supplements? Anyone have some youtube videos to follow for strength training? Comment away because I am ready to make this happen!

3. Book some public speaking engagements, 18 in '18 sounds like a good idea. :)

Yes, this is me...just doing my thing. I love to go around and encourage people with the knowledge that we have a lot more power than we realize. Each and every day we can choose to be victims to our circumstances or we can choose to be joyful regardless of what is going on. I have always loved to smile and laugh and look on the bright side of things. But when my late hubby was slowly fading, we realized the only way we were going to make it through was to choose joy. And as a result of our purposeful choice, we laughed more than we cried. Nurses would take their breaks in our hospital room just because we were so much fun. Beautiful memories rival the hard ones from that season.

This concept is important and I believe it pairs well with some other important issues like domestic violence and human trafficking. Those of us who are not in those situations need to not only rise up and help those we are stuck there, but we also need to be beacons of hope, teaching these precious souls that their identity doesn't need to be that of victim, but rather, OVERCOMER.

In addition to speaking, all the proceeds of my books go toward organizations who rescue and rehabilitate. Would anyone be interested in helping spread the word about Kindle fundraisers? Does anyone have ideas on how to raise more funds? I'm still mulling it over, but I'm wanting to set a goal number...$10,000 raised for charity?

So those are my ideas and possible dreams for the upcoming year...what are yours?